Matthew 15:19 KJV — For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
This truth that the human heart is fundamentally wicked and evil flies directly in the face of a popular lie that “people are fundamentally good”.
People may do ‘good things’, but our actions do not define or change our nature.
Despite all the good things we each do, when judged in the light of God’s objective standard of truth – we all come up short. We do good things with tainted motives and hidden agendas. We also don’t do good things that we are able to do because of laziness, self-centredness and self-preservation.
By the way, this is an amazing truth to embrace because it opens you up to receive this great news:
God sees each of us as we actually are – evil, wicked and tainted – and God loves us fully and unconditionally.
God’s love for you is not based on your performance. No matter what you do, or don’t do, God’s boundless love for you is 100% constant and has nothing to do with your performance. You don’t need to pretend, put on a facade or hold onto your status as a Doctor so that you have value, worth and love from God. God doesn’t care about any of that and He isn’t impressed or discouraged by anything you do. God cares about who you are.
God saw you drowning in the depths of all the trauma, wickedness, deceitfulness, guilt, shame, condemnation and turmoil in your heart…and God loved you enough to send Jesus to save you from yourself, to die on the Cross for you, pay the price for you to be forgiven of all sins – past, present and future – and to give you a brand new nature so that you can enjoy an intimate relationship with God who loves you unconditionally.
God’s love for us, and God’s love in us is not performance-based. It’s not based on anything you or I do, but it’s based on everything that Jesus has already done for us.
Even though the people around you ‘love’ you as long as you continue to measure up to their expectations for you…knowing that the Creator of the Universe loves you unconditionally helps to free you from being in bondage to yourself and to seeking the approval of others.