Loved for Who I Am

I have loved you with an everlasting love. Jer. 31:3

 

On morning last spring, I was feeling tired spiritually, tired of worrying about what God would ask me to do, and if I’ve done all the right things.  And He said to me, “I love you for you, not what you do.”  In other words, He loves me because He created me and because of who I am in Christ.

 

Then I read Our Daily Bread, and the verse was “They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.” Deut. 16:16 (NASB) And I thought, “Oh great, another way for me to fail.”  But then it said we need to “rest in what Christ has already accomplished.”  “Christ…the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Cor. 15:20) means He is our offering, the firstfruits that we are supposed to give God.  Then the devotional says, “Because Jesus is our firstfruits, we have infinite value and will never come before Him empty-handed.” (Williams, 5/23/07)