"Cheer Up! God Loves You!"

Religion in Daily Life By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min. Rector, All Saints' Church 9601 Frankford Ave. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19114 (215) 637-5225 Written 29 October 2000

"For me, accepting God's love involves a relentless hushing of voices that whisper otherwise. You are unworthy. You failed again. God cannot possibly love you. My conscience having formed under sermons portraying an Old Testament God of strict authority and punishment, I can barely grasp the reality that God has con-descended to live within me and now loves me from the inside out." Philip Yancey wrote these words in his new book, Reaching for the Invisible God. Putting aside childish images of God as an old man up in the clouds, why on earth would God love us?

Some persons and things are loved because they have worth. Think of persons and things we love because of some aspect of inherent worth: beautiful women, gifted athletes, brilliant scientists, priceless works of art. A speaker held up a new $100 bill. He asked if anyone in the room wanted it. Hands were raised. The speaker then crumpled the new bill in his fist. "Now who wants it," he asked. Again, hands were raised. Then the speaker threw the bill on the floor, stepped on it, and rubbed in the dust. He held up the crumpled, dirty bill. Still everyone wanted it. Some persons and things are loved for their value.

On the other hand, some persons and things have worth because they are loved. Ian Pitt-Watson, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, told about an object that had no intrinsic worth, yet it was greatly loved nevertheless. His daughter, Rosemary, had a rag doll. Though dirty and threadbare, it was Rosemary's most precious possession. When Ian and has family prepared to leave Scotland and come to America, each family member chose possessions to bring. Rosemary chose just one article - her rag doll. Though the doll had no worth in itself, it had worth in Rosemary's eyes because she loved it.

"And a little child shall lead them," wrote Isaiah (11:6). Rosemary's love for her "worthless" doll shows us the reason God loves us. In the Hebrew Bible, Moses told his nation that God did not love them because they were numerous (Deuteronomy 7:7). Rather, God's love gave the people value as his "special treasure." Likewise, the first followers of Jesus of Nazareth saw themselves as the recipients of God's "grace" - his kindness and friendship. The Apostle Paul wrote: "For it is to grace that you owe your salvation through faith. The whole process comes from nothing that we have done or could do; it is God's gift. Any achievement of ours is ruled out to make it impossible for anyone to boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9, Barclay).