Performance doesn't equal worth

What are you performing for? Schools base a lot of emphasis on test performance. Work demands you jump through hoops and continue to take on more so that you can get ahead. Relationships gear toward the mindset of "what have you done for me lately?" Who are you becoming? How are you going to get there? The mentality that says prove to me that you are worth it.

A lot of times that is what we make God out to be like as well. We ask "Are you following the rules? Are you doing the things we think you should be doing? Are you becoming who God wants you to be? We make our pursuit of Jesus one more thing based on our performance. Here is the reality... God is not in love with who I am becoming, but rather in love with who I am right now*. Let that soak in. It isn't based on me in anyway. It is based on who God is. His character... His love... His grace... His acceptance of me in my current messed up state.

We want to prove that we can do it, so we perform like we are suppose to. We gut it out. We push ourselves to the next level. We try to manage it. We try to control everything. We forget how messed up we were when we surrendered our lives to God. We are now trying to prove that we are worth it. He doesn't want our performance. He wants us. Lean into who He is. His character... His love... His grace... His mercy. We don't earn any of those with our performance. Forget who you are trying to become and realize who God is now.

* - Thanks to Lane for this awesome quote and sorry if I didn't get it exactly right. It is one of those mind blowing comments that will continue to stretch how I see God. Hopefully it continues to make me realize how much I need to press into God and his character and not rely on myself. I will continue to get it wrong no matter how hard I try, but God still loves me in this moment and not for where I am heading. How refreshing is that?