God doesn’t love us because we earn it. God loves us because we are God’s children. God created this world and everything in it—don’t you think God delights in it? Don’t you think God loves us at least as much as a good parent who delights in the activities of her children, regardless of whether they get everything right?
This isn’t a performance-based relationship; it’s a relationship based on unconditional love and endless delight. We can breathe a deep and long sigh of relief because the pressure’s off. We’re not here to impress or perform; we’re here to revel in God’s delight.
If you enjoyed my post yesterday linking you to a blog by Rachel Macy Stafford on six words you should say to your children, you’re going to love this follow up post by Rachel Held Evans about six words you should hear today.
The first Rachel (I know, it’s confusing having some many Rachels) who I quoted in my post yesterday talked about her experiences in learning how to tell her children: I love to watch you play. Rachel reflected on how she took the pressure off her children to perform, by simply acknowledging how much she enjoyed them.
The second Rachel responded to this by reflecting on how God sees his children. So often we feel that we are under some pressure to perform or to seek God’s approval, when all we need is the assurance that God loves us dearly and we need to hear him say: I love to watch you play … or …
I love to watch you eat and drink and dance and explore and worship and pray and get out of your car to move that poor little turtle out of the road…not because you do any of these things perfectly, but because you do them as my children.
INSPIRE NEWSCAST 