As I get older, I find more and more throughout my life, that there are people who feel like they have to do certain things or take steps in life to earn their place or others’ love… I get uncomfortable especially when I listen to people talking about how they have to earn the love of somebody else… Especially when that somebody else is Jesus…
Now in our “real lives,” sadly, in order to move up in huge corporations, you have to earn your ranking by selling more, gaining more clients, or perhaps getting more education. You also have to do these things to earn a raise… You have to “earn” good grades by working hard in school.
But in my opinion, when it comes to life and family, love is something that you shouldn’t have to earn. Jesus is not a corporation. Nor are our families. There is no special prayer that you have to say to win over Jesus. There are no special steps you must take for him to love you. We all get upset with our families at one time or another, but, we love them, because… it is just in our DNA to love those who share it. When it comes to Jesus and family, there is nothing to ask in return.
Jesus is … our family. He already did the one thing he needed to do to show us that he loved us. He died for us. And that in itself was a pretty big feat. He asked no questions. He did it because he loved us. And Jesus died for us even though he recognized we were all sinners.
And today, he still loves us…. even when we are sinners! We as humans are not perfect. We are going to make mistakes! And we can tell Jesus that we will do better next time…. and next time… and the next…..But he will love us each and every time. We were created as sinners…Just look at the first two people on Earth – Adam and Eve!…even they weren’t perfect! It is in our genetic make-up to make messes…. We are messy people. But that is where Jesus steps in. He comes in to help us clean up those messes. And as we are doing it – he loves us all the more.
We are all God’s children… created by him. He knows all of us by name…. He knows when we are happy, when we are hurting and enduring life. And all the bad things that happen in life – that is not God punishing us! Things happen in life. But these things that happen can make us stronger, and perhaps, can lead to our purpose in life and what we are supposed to do.
Sometimes, we have to take trips down messy dirt roads, so that we can find the clear path again… And during those trips, Jesus is right there with us, holding our hands… Even if he is silent… he’s right there… Sometimes, there is silence for us so that we can think about the situation, so that we can learn…. and sometimes as the saying goes… “The teacher is silent during a test….” And this is not a test to earn Jesus’s love – because you already have it!!! You had his love the moment you were born. And you didn’t have to do anything for it…
If you are trying to earn the love of Jesus, just stop. He already loves you. And if you’ve turned away because you are mad at him… ok… But you know what? He still loves you! Just go back to him. He will be right there waiting for you…
…. I just wanted to write this message, because this conversation has been going on in my household lately. Not because one of us is trying to earn any love. Thankfully, we all know we are loved. But we’ve been talking about others who feel like they have to do certain things to earn Jesus in their lives…. It’s also been a sermon topic in church as well.
I want people to read this message and realize, that they are loved, always…. There are so many people in this world who are walking around lonely and feeling unloved. If you are feeling unloved and lonely, I want you to know… That you ARE loved. You are not alone. You do not have to earn anyone’s love-especially love from Jesus.
Ariana R. Cherry: Poet & Artist 