“God is asking me the unworthy to forget my unworthiness and that of my brothers and dare to advance in the love which has redeemed and renewed us all in God’s likeness. And to laugh after all at the preposterous ideas of ‘worthiness.’” (Thomas Merton)

We so often evaluate ourselves and predetermine our own rewards. Thinking that God is like man, who judges our performance in advance of His blessing, we rob ourselves of His Love. Even in Christian communities there exists this idea that God’s love is somehow reserved for those who live up to some standard. The greatness of God and of the Gospel is that He loves the sinner. He died for the sinner and the unworthy.

Define yourself radically as one beloved by God – God’s love for you and his choice of you constitute your worth. Accept that, and let it become the most important thing in your life. You and I stand anchored now in God, before whom we stand naked, this God who tells me and you, “You are my beloved one in whom I am well pleased.”