Posted on January 17, 2018 by Jenn Zatopek
Growing up I wasn’t good enough because my father and I were atheists, so I became a Christian to satisfy the people. Then I wasn’t good enough because I was (and still am and forever will be) a Democrat. Then I wasn’t good enough because I couldn’t convert my father who professed atheism until his dying day. Then I wasn’t good enough because I refused to evangelize my non-Christian friends, outright rejecting the whole notion of beating them with the Bible as it has been done to me.
Here is the real truth: you will never be good enough for the religious people, the judges and juries who believe they are better than others because they have the real truth. You will never please them because the targets are always changing and trust me, the frenetic dance of their ever-changing goals never stops.
I am through with imperial Christianity, done with trying to meet totally unrealistic expectations that are iron-made shackles, adding to the burdens of an already complicated and difficult human existence. I am already and have been since my birth, accepted and loved by God. No ifs, ands, or buts. Already fully loved and delighted in. The same is true for you. There are no exceptions.
Jesus said “I came to love the whole world, not to condemn it but to make things whole.” (John 3:16-17, MSG).
This means that the spiritual abuse we received was not of God, but of humans’ desires to control, manage, and manipulate others to their liking. Notice that the illusion of control is not love. It is not peace. It is not of joyful delight in the human being right in front of you.
Thomas Merton, Catholic priest and mystic, wrote ”the beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.”
For today go out and about your day and know you are already loved, already found good and pleasing and wonderfully delighted in. Get that truth in the marrow of your bones. Meditate on it. Know it as you know the sun will rise and also that the Son rises to meet your beautiful face each and every day, if only you would see.
Buddhists believe that the Great Buddha looked on everyone with the eyes of compassion. Every single person who was and will be is already accepted and met with unmerited grace and abundant mercy. Sounds surprisingly like Jesus, doesn’t it?
Go out today armed with the truth and remember the Divine sees you, knows you, loves you, and accepts you. As is. Already. There are no exceptions.
Bibliography:
Merton, Thomas. (1965). The Way of Chaung Tzu. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/718914-the-beginning-of-love-is-the-will-to-let-those.
(Photo by Nathaniel Tetteh on Unsplash)
2 Comments
Thank you for sharing Rose. People need to be reminded that God’s love is the ultimate love. I used to cry because I wanted a man love me. At the time, not knowing, I had a man’s unconditional love, God’s love. I hold His love near to my heart. Agape!
January 17, 2018 at 1:04 pmI’m so glad you came to that realization and it sounds like you KNOW it in your bones! You are loved!
January 19, 2018 at 10:33 am