Have you ever been excluded, or judged unfairly? How did it make you feel?

I was judged all my growing up years by my father’s alcoholism. From even fourth grade, some of my friend’s parents wouldn’t let them come to my house, and didn’t want me at their house either. They just didn't want their daughters hanging around with me, because of my dad's drunkenness and his irresponsible and often irrational behavior. It was so unfair, as I wasn’t even being excluded for something I had done myself, but for something I had absolutely no control over.

As I got older, the “good” boys wouldn’t date me publicly; the only ones who would date me openly were town’s “bad” boys – which only added to my “bad” reputation and caused me to be more excluded. I felt hurt and rejected, and was made to feel like I was somehow worthless and unacceptable. But instead of trying to show people they were wrong to judge me so harshly, I went the opposite way; I figured since they talked about me, anyway, I might as well give them something to talk about! And out of that stubborn rebellion, I made some very bad choices.

We all have our own struggles, and our problems don’t just go away when we get saved. We have to learn to let go of our past, and our sinful choices, and instead allow God's love to heal all the hurts and fill all the empty places within us. We have to learn to make Godly choices, regardless of our circumstances.

Sometimes we think our poor choices, our bad mistakes, or the circumstances of our lives have made us unworthy of God's love. Of course we aren't "worthy", no one is, for we are all sinners, (Rom. 3:23) But here's the wonderful message of the gospel: God LOVES sinners!

We have to learn to separate “who” we are from what we “do”. What that means is that whatever our parents might have been does not define who we are. What happens to us does not define who we are. Our past mistakes do not define who we are. Circumstances do not define who we are. The only thing that defines us is our relationship with God through His son Jesus. If we have accepted the salvation God offered us through His Son, Jesus, then we are assured that we are His beloved children.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (II Cor. 5:17)

And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons
and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (II Cor. 6:18)

Who we are in Christ Jesus is greater than what we've done or what has been done to us. Nothing we’ve ever done makes God loves us any less, and nothing we can ever do makes Him love us more. God loves us because He is love, and because He created us, He redeemed us, and we are His.

C.S. Lewis said: “God loves us, not because we are lovable, but because He is love; not because He needs to receive, but because He delights to give.” God chose to love the Israelites, not because of anything they had done to deserve it, but simply because He IS love. And He chooses to love us the same way He loved them. Just as He made a covenant with them, He has made a new covenant with us, through Jesus Christ. God loves us with an everlasting love that never changes.