“I know you through and through – I know everything about you. The very hairs on your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to me, I have followed you through the years, and I have always loved you – even in your wanderings.
I know every one of your problems. I know your need and your worries. And, yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you – not for what you have or haven’t done – I love you for you, for the beauty and dignity my Father gave you by creating you in His own image.
It is a dignity you have often forgotten, a beauty you have tarnished by sin. But I love you as you are, and I have shed my blood to win you back. If you only ask me with faith, my grace will touch all that needs changing in your life; and I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin and all its destructive power. I know what is in your heart – I know your loneliness and all your hurts – the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations. I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share my strength and victory. I know especially your need for love – how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures – with even greater emptiness of sin.
Do you thirst for love? “Come to me all you who thirst” (John 7:37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine to the point of dying on a cross for you. I thirst for you. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe my love for you: I thirst for you. I thirst to love and to be loved by you – that is how precious you are to me. I thirst for you. Come to me, and fill your heart and heal your wounds. If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For me, there is no one any more important in the entire world than you. I thirst for you. Open to me, come to me, thirst for me, give me your life – and I will prove to you how important you are to my heart.
No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this life, there is one thing I want you to remember always, one thing that will never change: I thirst for you – just as you are. You don’t need to change to believe in my love, for it will be your belief in my love that will change you. You forget me, and yet I am seeking you every moment of the day – standing at the door of your heart, and knocking.
Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross, look at my heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood my cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there – for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: I thirst (John 19:28). Yes, I thirst for you – as the rest of the Psalm verse which I was praying says of me: “I looked for love, and I found none” (Psalm 69:20).
All your life I have been looking for your love – I have never stopped seeking to love and be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness; why not try opening your heart to me, right now, more than you ever have before.
Whenever you do not open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear me say to you again and again, not in mere human words but in spirit: “No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake.”
Come to me with your misery and your sins, with your trouble and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. Open to me, for I thirst for you.”
–I Thirst For You by Mother Teresa
Take a minute to soak this in.
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I posted this on Facebook a few years back and was reminded of that when it popped up a couple of months ago as a ‘memory’ for me to look at (I love those things!). It hit me as if it was my first time reading it. And each time I’ve read it since, I’ve been humbled to the point of tears. I mean wow. I don’t deserve that! The power in the truth of these words is incredible. Because it is all true. And it is speaking to you and me. Don’t miss it.
I am so humbled, convicted, and in awe of how wonderful our Lord is. How can I so easily forget who He is??
That He would care to know every little thing about me, even in my wanderings, when I stray from Him and want to do my own thing, and yet He still wants me – incredible.
That He loves me for me. For who I am, exactly where I am, regardless of what I’ve done – incredible.
That even though I am tarnished, tainted by sin, He still sees beauty in me – incredible.
That I, and each of you, are made in the image of the creator of the universe!!!!!!!!! – incredible.
That He carries all of my hurt and struggles, because He wants me to share in HIS strength and victory – incredible.
That He fills all my needs and emptiness and makes me complete and full and satisfied in His love – incredible.
That He considered me worth it to die for – incredible.
I am so undeserving.
There is so much to learn from His example.
I wish I could break down each line from this excerpt and adequately convey what it is saying, how it is speaking to me..but that could take a while, so I’ll just stick with some of the pieces that have been on my heart. See, I read this at a time in life when I really needed to hear it. Funny how that works. Of course, this is full of reminders that I need daily, but I happened to be in a place where I had noticed myself searching for love and acceptance and to be filled in ways other than looking to the Father. I felt distant. But this passage brought me back to the sweet truths promised to me. Truths I had been overlooking. Truths that will never change.
We as Christians are called to be holy – as He is holy. To be set apart. To live radically for the sake of the gospel. That doesn’t mean trying to blend in with the people around us, conforming, for fear of shaking things up or not being accepted. It also doesn’t mean trying to see how much we can get away with, how close to the line we can get, and it still be okay..because we aren’t as bad as them, right? I think we forget this a lot of times. Because yeah, it’s hard. I definitely struggle with it. But we don’t have to be stuck in this, we have the opportunity to be transformed by God’s love. Let us never get caught up in the excuse of ‘that’s just who I am.’ He is good, He wants more for us, and His love changes us!! I don’t want to stay the same.
Gosh, I can get so caught up in this world, in expectations thrown at me, in trying to be accepted by people, in trying to prove myself to finally feel like I am good enough, pretty enough, important enough, etc. And for what? I always end up realizing that it’s an unending battle. And in the midst of it I lose myself, and I lose my focus on the Savior. The One who made me who I am – who knows me better and more completely than anyone in the world ever will, and He still thinks I’m incredible and wants me for me. Why do I need anything else? Why do I continually search for more? This world sure does take a toll on me when I let it. That is one of the things I am most excited about for the World Race – being forced to learn how to live minimally, away from the distractions and the ‘American’ viewpoint that we all have seemed to grow numb to. I’m ready for a renewing of my mind!
When reading this passage, I can’t help but think of how I did absolutely nothing to deserve any of it – His love, His forgiveness, His healing..but I guess when it comes down to it, none of us deserve His love. We did nothing to deserve anything. Admittedly, that is one of my least favorite words. When I hear someone say “well they do/don’t deserve it,” I cringe a little bit. Who are we to say who does or doesn’t deserve something?? Because guess what? None of us deserve anything. But for some reason, God thinks that you and I are worth it. In fact, He thinks that we are so worth it that He died on a cross for us! What?? How many people would do that – knowing that maybe some people wouldn’t care, or wouldn’t love you back? I don’t know if I could do it, but that is what He did for every single one of us. Even when we turn from Him, God is still there, seeking us, loving us, and never giving up on us. Wow.
And here I am, at times still finding myself wandering around, seeking to be considered deserving of love. Still searching to fill that need within me to be loved, because in those times, I tend to forget that all I have to do is go the Lord as I am, and I will be filled. I will be satisfied. I will be made complete, whole. He is love! He thirsts to love me, it is His desire – I have to accept it. And He thirsts to be loved by me, for me to put Him above all else. He sacrificed it all for you and for me. What a beautiful picture of what we long for here on earth, a longing given by the Lord that can only be completely filled by the Lord. It blows me away.
Do I mess up? Yes. Do I forget His goodness? Yes. Do I try to take things into my own hands? Yes. Do I try to find value and love on earth? Yes.
But He still thirsts for me. He still considers me precious. He still delights in me. He still loves me. & that will never change. Praise the Lord!
There is nothing I did to deserve any of it. But man, am I thankful that He doesn’t give up on me, that His love his greater than I can comprehend, and that His grace is as vast as an ocean..I need it. And I can’t stay the same. What a transformed world we would live in if we all saw each other through the eyes of the Lord and loved people even a little bit like He does.
This is what I want to remember, this is what I desire to surrender my life to every day – God and His love. This is how I want to live. This is what I want to share with people. His love will change every person it touches. Will I keep messing up? Yes. But I don’t want that to be an excuse. I want to continued being changed by His love each day as I learn to be more like Him. I want to thirst for Him daily.
Remember that you are enough. You are worth it. You are beautiful. You are loved.
To God be the glory.
