God loves us. We don’t need to do anything but just be and He loves us. How do we respond to such a magnificent gift?

God is our creator and knows more about us than we do of ourselves (or maybe that we’re willing to admit). He wants us to be the best we can be. He made us in His image and likeness, so that the more we grow into a relationship with Him, the more we can reflect His image back to Him as well as to those we encounter. Most people are aware of their flaws and try to hide or overcome them. To know God loves us as we are in this moment — flaws and all — can be overwhelming and incomprehensible. It is easy to discount God’s love and turn away from Him because of our brokenness. A humble person will not turn away but lean in on God to heal their defects. It may take a lifetime of work on both our part as well as with God’s help, but if we turn our flaws over to Him, he can guide us through our journey.

It can be intoxicating to think about the love God has for us. Rather than learning more about God and having a relationship with Him, we can think that His love allows us to do anything we want, especially if He loves us with whatever sins are on our souls. This “it doesn’t matter” approach is prideful love, more about loving oneself than God. While God does love us as we are, He does not want us to stay as we are, but grow in love and holiness for Him. If we continue to think that we don’t have any changes to make in our lives, our attitudes, or our habits, we will not grow as a person, but rather be stuck in a false reality that we have grown accustomed to. When we deny our sins, our lives and relationships are mere shadows of what they could have been.

Jesus came to be our savior and redeemer at a particular place and time. In a letter to the Romans, Paul states, “Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life.” (Rom 5:10) God has given us the way to a life with Him through Jesus. For those who turn away because of their flaws, they can be forgiven through the mercy of Christ. This means turning away from our flaws and fighting the bad habits we have that lead us into sin. We can’t do it on our own, which is why we have the Mass, the Sacraments — especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist, and the Church to aid us throughout our lifetime. God does not expect us to fix ourselves before we turn to Him, He wants us to turn to Him so that He can help heal us and overcome our sinful nature through the Church He left us. 

God loves us so much that He allows us to choose. We can choose to love Him or we can choose to love ourselves. God respects our free will and will not force us to choose a relationship, or eternity, with Him. He will pursue us and give us every opportunity to meet us where we are and to learn about Him and learn to love Him while we are on earth. Spending our time on earth in love with ourselves will distort our ability to recognize God and choose Him at the moment of our death. Let us choose to love God now with humble and contrite hearts.