We all have met people who are sure that they are doing God’s will. We have met people who are living lives that inspire others with their public goodness. And we’ve met people who are ashamed of and afraid of God. People who hear God’s voice as one filled with judgement and rejection. People who are in the church and people who won’t come to church. (Some of each of the previous categories are in both of the latter categories in my experience.)

But what if, instead of thinking of people who are one or the other, we looked at ourselves as being a little, or a lot, of both? Are there parts of you that you are comfortable with? Are there parts of you that you are ashamed of? Me too. I’m pretty sure that is true of everyone, whether they can admit it to themselves or not.

The extraordinary message of the Gospel this week is that we will be surprised about how God feels about the parts of us that we imagine God values, and how deeply God loves the parts of us that we’re ashamed of. And if that’s true for God, maybe it can true of our feelings towards ourselves too.

The direct link to the video is here.