Were you always picked last for teams in school?

Were you the one who always sat ignored in a corner during a party while seemingly everyone else in the room was having a great time?

Were you left wondering what you did after a friend decided you weren’t worth the effort anymore and dropped (or defriended) you?

Were you the one left holding the pieces of your heart after your spouse or significant other gave up on you and walked out on you?

Were you ever the one wondering if you would ever matter to anyone and if the world wouldn’t just be better off without you in it?

Every single one of us (including me) has said yes to one or more of these questions. And the ultimate question: Did you ever wonder if God was ready to throw in the towel on you, too?

The answer as plainly as I can put it is HELL NO.

God’s not even close to quitting on you. In fact, he’s still pursuing you. The fact that He’s running after you is not because He’s angry, but because He can’t wait to get to you.

God chose YOU because He wanted YOU. He loved YOU enough to give up everything, leave heaven, and die a criminal’s death on a cross for YOU. YOU are His beloved.

I will never get tired of saying that you are God’s beloved. It will never ever grow old to think that I am His beloved. If I am sounding a one-note symphony, it is this: God is madly in love with you and wants you. Not because ones He really wanted were taken. Not because there weren’t any good choices out there. He wanted you.

And He still does. He wants to take you and transform you into something beautiful and give you a story to tell that will astonish the world. Your and my part is simply to believe what God says about us and receive it and live out of it. Then be God’s love to someone else. It’s really that simple.

Henri Nouwen summarized the whole entire gospel in one word: Beloved. That’s what you are.

Ain’t it grand?