“Think on these words. You were knitted together. You aren’t an accident. You weren’t mass-produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on this earth by the Master Craftsman.” So says Max Lucado. He is comparing our lives to the gift of a hand made sweater he received many years ago from his mother. Although the sweater is now aged, worn, too small and faded, it is not worthless. In fact, I’m sure he would say it has increased in value as the older he grows the more he appreciates the love and care that went in to making it.
You were created with the same love and attention to detail as that sweater. The most creative Being ever to exist formed you from nothing yet He formed you to perfection. You are exactly, precisely as God wanted you to be. You are not flawed, you are not a mistake, you are not a rough draft. God knew what He was doing and why He was doing it when He put you in this place and time with the gifts, abilities, dreams and life that you now have.
Unlike Mr. Lucado’s sweater, which has become more cherished over the years, God will never love you more than He did the day He decided to create you. Nothing you can do or say can make Him love you better, deeper or more fully than He does right now. Nothing you do or don’t do, for the rest of your life, will change how He feels about you. Does that take some pressure off? I hope so.
So many of us spend our lives trying to please someone: our parents and teachers, our spouse, our boss, our best friend, God. Sometimes it feels like no matter what we do, we can’t please anyone. Take heart. You can’t DO anything to make God more pleased with you than He already is. No sacrifice, no spiritual growth, no act of obedience or worship, nothing can make Him love you better than He does right now. God’s love is vast and incomprehensible to us. We are used to people loving and accepting us when we do things they like, and then having people get angry with us when we do something they don’t like. So we carefully adjust what we do and how we do it in order to move through life drawing love to ourselves and avoiding anger. It becomes an unconscious mode of operation for just about everyone – with the possible exception of Howard Stern.
We get so programmed to living that way, it is almost impossible to grasp the idea of unconditional, abundant, all forgiving love. Yet that is what God offers us. He is delighted with you, He smiles when He thinks of you and that outpouring of love is not affected in any way by what you are doing. Can you get a picture of God smiling down on you, beaming with delight at how wonderful you are? After all, He created you and in His eyes you are wonderful just the way you are. Carry that image in your mind and in your heart and pull it out often. May it remind you of your Creator’s love for you, just as Max Lucado’s sweater reminds him of the love of his parent.