You know Satan, our spiritual enemy, is a liar, right? All liars distort the truth. They twist it, nuance it, and obscure it. That which is actually true is still true, but the liar tries to change our perception of the truth.

For years I lived with a sort of undercurrent of God’s disappointment. I really didn’t feel like he was happy with me. I knew he loved me and all, but deep down I kind of felt like he wished I’d do more or be better. I didn’t know it at the time, but I’d accepted a lie from the Liar. 

One of the results of inadvertently believing this lie was I wanted to avoid certain passages of the Bible where God was telling me to do things that were personally challenging or uncomfortable. Because I read them through the lens of the lie, they seemed to highlight even more the gap between where God wished I were and where I actually was. 

A breakthrough came for me when I read Romans 5:8…God demonstrates his love by sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die for us even before I was born and knowing I would break his laws. He loved me so much that he provided a way for me to come into his family even before I needed it. If he loved me before I was born and made a way for me to be forgiven, even though he knew all my future sin, how much more must his love extend to me now that I desire to follow him and obey. He loved me when I was his enemy (Colossians 1:21). How much more must he love me now that I’m his child (1 John 3:1). 

The Holy Spirit made this truth real to me and the lie was destroyed. Jesus loves me—he actually likes me and enjoys me! And…he feels the same way about you. Ask him to make this real to you today.

On the adventure with you,

Kirk