Do You Deserve God's Love?
In a not-so-subtly-named book, You Deserve the Love of God , the author argues we are hindered from enjoying salvation because of our perceived unworthiness. The back cover claims, “The residue of shame whispers, ‘…but I don’t deserve it.’ This issue is deeply ingrained in our Christianity. We have inherited a false theology in the basic unworthiness of the human creature.” This issue has been on my mind lately because just a week ago or so, a celebrity pastor tweeted something to the same effect as the above book title, and was then taken to task by other more conservative commentators. It’s not a new controversy, of course, but it appears to be one that is quite relevant to the current conversation. Personally, I’ve received mixed signals over the years on whether I “deserve” the love of God or not, even in the theological circles I have run in. If you’ll allow me to commit the sin of over-generalizing, I could say that in the so-called Charismatic/inner-healing streams I have he