The bedrock of my faith—mind you, I didn’t get to it easily—is that we are loved by God. He loves us as we are, but too much to leave us that way.

We are loved by God, and that’s what gives us value. We don’t achieve value. It’s not because we have value that we’re loved by God, but because we’re loved by God that we have value.

Our value as human beings is not an achievement, it’s a gift. We don’t have to prove ourselves. All that is taken care of. What we have to do is express ourselves, return God’s love with our own.

What a world of difference there is between proving yourself and expressing yourself.

from The Life of Meaning

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Gender-neutral version:

The bedrock of my faith—mind you, I didn’t get to it easily—is that we are loved by God, who loves us as we are, but too much to leave us that way.

We are loved by God, and that’s what gives us value. We don’t achieve value. It’s not because we have value that we’re loved by God, but because we’re loved by God that we have value.

Our value as human beings is not an achievement, it’s a gift. We don’t have to prove ourselves. All that is taken care of. What we have to do is express ourselves, return God’s love with our own.

What a world of difference there is between proving yourself and expressing yourself.

from The Life of Meaning