You Are Loved

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3

Many of us struggle with the abyss of self-identity. For some, identity focuses first and foremost on physical appearance. Like butterfly specimens pinned to a board, we are classified according to size, gender, color, and race. For others, identity is defined by one’s character or personality – we feel the urge to be smart, witty, quick-thinking, and successful individuals, often at the cost of our individuality.

“In Western society at a more suburban level, ‘identity’ has become our most important private project, and devotees of the grand pursuit of ‘identity construction’ focus first and foremost on the body. Hence the enduring fascination with cookbooks, fitness manuals, and diet programs, and the mind-boggling fortunes made through health foods, drugs, plastic surgery, body-care products, exercise gadgets, and ‘teach yourself’ books of every kind.”¹

It’s no wonder so many individuals struggle with self-image and self-love. We are being pushed into becoming someone we were never designed to be. Jeremiah 31:3 reminds us that God has loved us with an everlasting love – not just for eternity to come, but from eternity past. Even before the world was created, you were on God’s mind and in God’s heart. You are loved. You are precious to Him. In His eyes, you are worth dying for.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a well-known pastor and theologian, addressed this question of identity in a poem, “Who Am I?” He closed his poem with one of the most beautiful lines I have ever read: Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine. He found his identity, not in who he was but in whose he was.

Thought: You are not the sum of your weaknesses, failures, or inadequacies – you are the sum of God’s love.

¹ Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling God’s Purpose for Your Life