On one vacation, Ortberg’s father had to drive all the way back to Canada from Illinois because they had left Pandy in Canada. The estimated driving hours between the two places could take up to eleven hours one way. That was how important Pandy was to his sister.
When his sister had a little baby girl, she restored Pandy and kept Pandy as her daughter’s doll. In seeing this, Ortberg wrote, “When Pandy was young, she loved her. She celebrated her beauty. When Pandy was old and ragged, she loved her still. She did not simply love Pandy because Pandy was beautiful, she loved her with the kind of love that made Pandy beautiful.”
God’s love for us could be explained in this similar way and just like Pandy, we are less than perfect but He loves us still. He doesn’t love us because we are beautiful; He loves us with His kind of love that makes us beautiful.
Maybe it is hard for you to receive an undeserved love but this is what makes God’s love the purest of all. He loves us still despite all of our shortcomings. When we clenched our fist against Him, He loves us still. When we threaten to leave Him, He loves us still. When we have sinned against Him, He loves us still.
Yes, we don’t deserve His love but God chose to love each of us beyond all reasons. Will you receive His love and let Him celebrate your beauty?
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
- Irene Soon