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If you’ve paid attention to enough modern romantic comedies, you may have noticed that many of them seem to have the same general plot – guy meets girl and they fall in love, but one of them has a secret, a terrible secret that they fear that, if revealed, will cause the other person to reject them (she’s not a princess but a servant girl, he initially came after her because of a bet, and so on). They continue to deepen their love for each other as the one with the secret does his or her best to hide it, usually to much hilarity. Eventually the secret comes out, and she is rejected, and all seems lost, but eventually he comes around and decides that he loves her anyway, all is forgiven, and they live happily ever after.

What does this say about one of the deepest desires of the human heart? One of our deepest desires is that someone would know us completely – our deepest secrets, our worst flaws and struggles – and still love us, forgive us, and choose us. That we could be at our worst, our ugliest, make mistakes, put it all out there, and instead of experiencing horror and rejection, receive forgiveness and love in return. This is why we hide from family, friends, bosses, and even from the ones who love us the most, because deep down we fear that if they knew the real us, they would reject us. And most of us fear this for good reason, because many people who have found out things about us have rejected us, be they lovers, bosses, friends, or family. For most of us, it would take a lot to convince us to trust someone that deeply.

This year we’ve been learning one memory verse every month and this month’s theme is the gospel, with the memory verse from Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Keeping in mind what I just shared about our deep desire to be known completely and forgiven and loved, look at what Paul declares about how God sees us. Romans 5:8 declares that we can be assured that God loves us, that we are loved, forgiven, and accepted, because when we were at our worst, He died for us. He did not just say, “fine, you can stay, but you’re on watch.” No – he loved so much that He was willing to die for us when we were still sinners. In fact, go back to verse 6:

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Maybe you would give your life for a good man, for someone you love. But Jesus died for us when we did not deserve it and he owed us nothing. Understand that God did not die for the churchgoing, loving person. He died for the rebellious, apathetic, foul-mouthed, sexually immoral man or woman we can be. When you were indifferent to him, he died for you. When you were abusing your child, He died for you. When you were cheating on your wife, He died for you. When you were strung out on drugs, He died for you. When you made fun of that homeless man instead of caring for him, He died for you. When you stabbed your best friend in the back, He died for you. While you were still a sinner, Christ died for you. Think of the worst thing you’ve ever done. It was at that moment that Jesus Christ died for you.

Remember that the next time you are convinced that God doesn’t want you – he died for you at your worst. Satan will try to convince you that you are unworthy, but you never were worthy apart from Christ. Your self-worth and value comes precisely because, when you were at your worst, God loved you enough to die for you.