I posted this thought last year, and it came back to me repeatedly throughout the year as people would write and tell me how it had changed the trajectory of their lives. Through it, they recognized how unworthy they felt in their own failures and how distant from the very love that could transform them. As they began to talk to Jesus about this, he led them to a place where he could make himself known to them. Then they could begin to learn to relax into his reality. Sin, failure, or brokenness doesn’t make you less worthy of love, only more in need of it.
And, no, this is not the arrogant God-is-lucky-to-have-me sense of worth. It’s the humbling, contrite, joyful recognition that despite all that I’ve done and all that’s twisted in me, he delights in me as his child and loves me more deeply than any human ever has or ever will.
And the only way to know that is when he appears to you. I know a song lyric is not Scripture, but this one sums up so much of what Scripture seeks to say. So, as my Christmas gift to so many of our friends around the world, I post it again. May it bear even more fruit in 2021.
O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas song and my favorite line in it is this: “Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.”
Ever since Eden’s Fall, the hardest belief for many to sustain, especially in times of struggle and failure is that they are worthy of God’s love and affection. So often we are overwhelmed by failure and feel so alone in our struggles that it seems sometimes as if no one cares, and too often God most of all. But that’s the illusion that pushes our world into the darkness.
Till he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.
God is not ever inactive toward us—unrecognized perhaps, but never uninvolved and he is always working to beckon us out of the darkness and into the joy of his light. What Sara and I want those three precious children in the picture above to know more than anything else is that they are beloved children of a gracious Father. They are worthy of his love, no matter what struggle they go through, whatever mistake they make, and in spite of every whisper of darkness into their ears.
It’s what we want everyone to know. He appeared in our world because we were worthy of love and to prove it he would spend his own life to rescue us from all that darkness twists or destroys in us. He came to redeem us because we were worth it to him.
You! You are worth everything to him. What I love about the lyric above is that we come to know that worth when he appears. That’s when it all makes sense, and that’s not just about his coming 2000 years ago, but how he wants to make himself known to you today. When you behold him then your soul knows its worth. We are deeply loved and deeply cherished simply for who we are.
If you need a reminder of that, steal away for some alone-time over the next couple of days. Find a quiet place and ask him to reveal himself to you. Wait in the quiet until his reality begins to bubble up in your soul. We used to sing an old chorus, “There is none like you. No one else can touch my heart like you do. I could search for all eternity long and find, there is none like you.” It is such a rich chorus to sing to God.
But if you could for just a moment, imagine God singing those words to you. Read (or sing) them again and this time put those words onto God’s lips toward you. That’s just as true. And when you come to know that, your soul too will feel its worth.
Then every night can be a holy night!
We are so blessed to have so many connections with so many people around the world. During this season, we are grateful for every life that God has given us to know, every person whose path we have crossed, and those who have let us walk beside them in their own spiritual journey.
Merry Christmas to all of you, and may the New Year bring you an abundance of him and a spirit of selflessness to serve the world in this time of extremity,
Wayne and Sara
Thank you Wayne and Sarah
That was the best read I’ve had in a long time.
So helpful.
Tony
Thanks Wayne for who you are and your being a beacon of hope and confidence to all of our heavenly dad’s children all around the world to Yeshua’s mercy and His amazing heart of favour – and you have kept on being an example to us all, especially to the ‘elder brothers’ as to how to lift Him and His love before all. So – Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones old timer….
I find this piece very refreshing. Thank you for such thoughtful and invigorating article. Am lifted up spiritually. What l have enjoyed most from you, especially from your books and various podcasts, is the knowledge to live loved which has enhanced my personal relationship with Father. Instead of being afraid of the Father when temptation overcomes me, l find myself going back to Him to help me sort out whatever gave rise to my predicament. This l do with awesome reverence and feeling of love believing that He will forgive me and put me right back on feet.
May l use this privilege to ask if Christmas and celebration of same have any true and genuine relationship with Father? Am yet to come in contact with any reference of this in the scripture. I would appreciate any insight l could get in this regard. Anyone with insight or knowledge on this is welcome.
Am very new on this journey. But l do know quite a lot of people from varying denominations who have different opinions on this subject. Pls help me. Thank you.
I’m not sure what you’re asking. No, you’ll not find “Christmas” in Scripture and I don’t believe God is any more present in this season than he is on any other day in my life. But Christmas is a cultural season of love and goodwill that focuses on the birth of Jesus, even though it didn’t happen in December. I find that God goes anywhere he can find hearts that are open to him. If Christmas gets people focused on his Son, then Father will be there to make himself known. If people see Christmas as mostly a pagan solstice celebration that Christianity co-opted to its detriment, then they are not completely wrong about that. Romans 14 and 15 speak a lot about our forbearing each other if we view days, seasons, and foods differently. In my home, we celebrate the day, talk about Jesus’s birth, exchange presents, and celebrate the love we have as a family and God is with us in it.
Thank you Brother Wayne for taking time to reply to my comments. I do appreciate that. My heart is lifted up now and my feeling is no more negative towards the celebration of Christmas as it was before. My understanding now is that it’s more about WHO is been celebrated rather than the day or season of celebration. I think l find peace with this. Stay blessed. Stay safe.
Thanks Wayne and Sarah for those words.Merry Christmas and a Happy new year 2021.God bless you all
O Holy Night is one of my favorite Christmas songs. When I felt the worth of my soul, I began to put more importance on spiritual matters and on the city whose builder and maker is God and way less importance on this temporary life we live here on this earth. I am not worthy of the love of God. He has a love we cannot afford. My soul feels it’s worth now, and that is reflected in my choices. I probably haven’t expressed my thoughts very well. Thanks for your blog!