I Loved You At Your Darkest
Romans 5:8
Romans
5: 8 says that “God demonstrates His Love for us in this way: while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.”
I used to be convinced that though
God is Love, He could hate certain people: people who turned away from him. But
if the Gospel is proof of anything, it is that God loves us so much He is
willing to die for us.
There is a common saying people are
tattooing on their bodies next to the reference for “Romans 5:8”. It says “I
loved you at your darkest”. A little corny? Maybe. I like it. Its true.
However, I think a far more impacting statement is this: “I died for you at
your darkest.” Because He didn’t just love us. He loved us enough to die for
us.
Like Paul writes in the same
chapter of Romans, there are only a few people who would die for a good person.
And yet God loved us so much, He died for us when we were bad people. He died
for us after we ran away from Him, cursed His name, and spit in His face. And
He would gladly do it again.
I personally would love a tattoo
that said “Loved as I am. Not as I should be.” Because I am. Brannon Manning
once said that he believes that when we die and meet Jesus He will ask us one question
and one question only: “Did you believe that I loved you? That I desired you? I
longed to be with you day after day? That I longed to hear the sound of your
voice?”
So many people think that they have
to earn God’s love. They think that they have to do all these good things, or
at least not do bad things. Others think that they have no chance of God loving
them because of the things they have done or the person they are. “I’m too far
gone,” they think. Let me tell you something right now. Let Jesus tell you the
same thing: That is a lie!
Jesus doesn’t care about the things
we do. The truth is that He is perfect and the Bible says that all the good
things we do are only like dirty rags compared to Christ. He knows we can’t
live up to Him. That’s why He died for us. The only thing He wants is for us to
know His love. To let it engulf us, and take us over. He wants us to feel it,
and believe it. He wants you to know
that He loves you. Not the person
next to you. Not the pastor. Not the bus driver. Not your best friend. Not
Billy Graham or Mother Teresa. He wants you to know He loves YOU for the person you are. Not the
person you should be. Because, as Brannon Manning says, you’re never gonna be
as you should be. None of us are ever gonna be as we should be.
