Guilt. Condemnation. Shame. Fear. Distance. Perfectionism. If you have ever felt one or more of these things when it comes to the Lord, chances are you may be experiencing a performance-based relationship with the Lord. The Lord never intended for us to live this way, but I have found that so many people have to fight off these feelings when they come to God.

I remember my mom telling me that when she grew up, she thought that when she did something she knew she shouldn’t, she would make God mad. She was always scared that if God was mad at her, that he would be very disappointed with her. She lived in constant fear of messing up, because she viewed God as a strict harsh father. Unfortunately, many of us see God that way.

One of the greatest things that I personally have learned in my walk with Christ, is that ‘strict and harsh’ is the furthest from who God is. God is love. I am going to say that again… GOD IS LOVE! He is literally the definition of what love is. Not love by the standards of this world, but unconditional, never-ending, agape love. “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” –Hebrews 13:8. He can’t change. He won’t change. Nothing we can do can make God love us more or less.

That is hard for many to comprehend because we as humans often love one another based on performance and conditions. You can say you love someone and then they hurt you, that can often alter the way you feel towards them. Or you may get in an argument with someone and not think the same loving thoughts towards them. God isn’t like that. He looks at our heart, not our actions. “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." -1 Samuel 16:7.

We are not meant to have a performance-based relationship with the Lord. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” –Ephesians 2:8-9. This scripture shows us that our salvation is not based on us, but simply God’s grace.

God is not mad at you for anything you’ve done. In fact, He loves you more than you could EVER imagine. Nothing we do or don’t do can separate us from His love. The bible speaks clearly about this in Romans 8:38-39, where it says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

God is not surprised by anything you’ve done or going to do. He has already died on the cross for your past, present, and future sins. The Bible says that Christ "appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself" -Hebrews 9:26. Once you have received Him as savior, He sees you ‘white as snow’ because of what Jesus did for you! (Psalm 51:7)

Remember, your salvation and relationship with the Lord is NOT dependent on you or how good you are. Not one of us will ever be “good” enough to receive what God has done for us. He loves us, and nothing will ever change that.

If the description of how my mom viewed God when she was a child sounded familiar to you, then today is the day to ask God to show you how He really sees you! All it takes is one simple prayer asking the Lord to reveal His great love that He has for you, and start to learn about it in His Word! Galatians and Psalms are two of my personal favorite books when it comes to studying God’s love for me! There is also a great new book by Joyce Meyer titled God is Not Mad at You, which actually inspired me to write this post if you would like to study this subject further! I pray this blesses you today, and inspires you to pursue an even closer love walk with our Heavenly Father!