Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. – Ephesians 5:1-2
We all keep secrets. There is not a human being on the face of the earth who fully discloses every thought, feeling, motive, desire, and attitude to others. We hide many of those things within ourselves, hoping that no one ever finds us out, because we fear that the ugliness we keep tucked away would drive others away. So, we put on a mask, and we put on a show, make-believing we are something that we are not. But there is Someone who knows the real you and loves you with a costly, undeserved, willing, lasting, transforming, blessing love. You are fully known by Jesus and fully loved by Jesus, even with all of your sins and shortcomings. It’s a good thing that He knows every micro-detail about you because you don’t ever have to wonder if He loves the real you or just the sanitized-for-public version of you that others see. Jesus loves the you behind the mask. He doesn’t love you more on “good” days when you do all the things He wants you to do, and love you less on the “bad” days when you stray and disobey; He loves you all days and always because you are treasured by Him. To be sure, He doesn’t love your and my sin. He doesn’t love those sinful things that are tucked away inside of us. In fact, He hates them. But that didn’t drive Jesus away from us; that drove Him to the cross for us, so we might be forgiven for and freed from our sins, and welcomed into the family of God. Then, He stays with us to transform us from the inside out into people who both hide less and less and have less and less to hide. The One who matters the most, knows us most, and loves us most. Secure in His love for us, we are moved to love Him back and extend His love to others, knowing that when the all-seeing God of the universe looks upon us in Christ, though He sees everything about us, what He sees most is a beloved son or daughter.
