“Define yourself as one radically loved by God-this is your true self. All other identity is illusion” – Brennan Manning
This quote by Brennan Manning is one of my all-time favorites. For some reason, the phrase “radically loved” just lands differently in my mind. It’s easy to take God’s love for granted the same way my kids take my love for granted. I’m always telling them I love them. They know it and sometimes even give me a playful eye roll if I get too gushy.
God has told us over and over in the Bible how much he loves us. He shows us by providing for even our most basic needs. But do I stop to think about how radically loved I am by God? How do I even try to fathom that the same God who created the universe and all the incredible things in it, thought the world needed one of me too? Let alone that He would come to earth to walk the life I walk, and feel the emotions I feel, to reach into my situation and meet me in my need.
For years I sought my identity from the acceptance of others. I’ve spent so much of my life being a people-pleaser so that I would feel accepted. I would worry all the time about what people thought about what I said or did. Over time, God has helped me see that He is enough. His opinion of me is enough. I could be set free from the winds and waves of people’s fickle emotions and opinions. I no longer needed to fret and worry about what others thought of me. For I learned to rest my identity securely in the hand of my Heavenly Father whose love doesn’t change. For He is love itself. As I leaned into the truth that no matter who chooses to loves me or doesn’t, or who accepts me or not; He always will and He calls me His beloved, His precious child!
Do you struggle with fully accepting how radically loved you are by the God of the universe? Do you define yourself as one loved by God? Please know, dear friend, you are so radically loved by God. You are a beautiful masterpiece created by God himself. Allow this to be what defines you. Let’s us no longer find our identity in the illusions that others or the world would have us believe. Proudly proclaim today, “I am a daughter of a King, a precious child of God!” This is your true identity.
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” ~ 1 John 3:1
