Have you ever felt unloved or worthless? 

Have you ever felt unloved or worthless?

I have. In fact, I’m very familiar with those feelings, and not just from the far flung past…

This from the apostle Paul:

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. – 2 Corinthians 1:8 ESV

This from the prophet Elijah:

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord , take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” – 1 Kings 19:4 ESV

And this from Jonah:

Therefore now, O Lord , please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” – Jonah 4:3 ESV

And this from Moses:

I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.” – Numbers 11:14‭-‬15 ESV

And this from Jeremiah:

Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! – Jeremiah 20:14 ESV

And Job said:

“Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’ – Job 3:3 ESV

Do you see a pattern in these verses? Do you know that if you go to each of these stories and continue reading that they were not left there to die,  nor were they condemned for their broken state or for their “lack of positivity”.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:8‭-‬10 ESV

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. – Romans 5:6‭-‬10 ESV

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. – Psalms 51:17 ESV

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. – 1 John 1:5‭-‬10 ESV

You are loved. So loved by God.

“For  God so loved  the world,  that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not  perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. – John 3:16‭-‬18 ESV