Why did God create us in his image and likeness? Why did he create his goodness and beauty within us?  Eph 1:4-6 tells us: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved.”

But the sad thing is that even though God created us good and sees his love and life reflected in us, many of us come into awareness later on in life, not of our goodness but of our unworthiness. Somewhere we have the perception that we are not good, that we are not lovable, that we have to earn the love of others; that we are flawed. For some of us we are broken and wounded.

But God who is love, who is good, desired his original plan to be fulfilled. To show us how much he loves us and how love can transform us and enable us to see the truth of our self-worth, he chose to give us many signs of his love—the greatest of which is himself becoming one like us in all things but sin. Jn 3:16 tells us: “For God so loved the world that he gave  his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

Since love is convey through signs: words and actions. Jesus became the sign of the Father’s love for us. It was hard for human beings to experience the visible sign of God’s love in a way that would convict us and convince us beyond a shadow of doubt that God loves us unconditionally. When someone says to you: I love you. You are not sure if this is just mere words or they are a genuine reflection of truth. Words along are not sufficient. We look for external signs or manifestation of that love. (To be continued)