To be Worthy, or Not to be Worthy? That is the question!

Recently I came across a picture on the internet that said "I am worthy of God's love". Now if the Holy Spirit lives in you, immediately He will testify with your spirit that the statement is entirely false! The apostle John tells us in 1 John 2:20-21 that 'you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things...and no lie is of the truth.' He goes on in chapter 4 to say, 'Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God'. It is so easy to read something and not really think about what it says and just assume that it is from God, but Satan is busy and his goal is to distort and deny God's word, as it has been from the beginning (Genesis 3:1-5). Now this was even more disturbing to read this because it was posted by someone who professes to follow Christ and even says they are called into the ministry of teaching and preaching! Even though I knew in my heart it was not right theology, I wanted to search God's word and see for myself.
First of all, what does it mean to be worthy? To be "worthy" means to have worth, merit, value; to be honorable and admirable; to be deserving or due reward. We are all sinners and not one of us has anything of value, honor or is there anything admirable about us! Above all, we are not deserving of God's love - we are deserving of His wrath, and eternal separation from a Holy God. Only because of His love and mercy are we able to have peace with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. He is worthy to be loved - not us. He loves us not because we are worthy, but because it is His nature as a Holy, merciful, loving, compassionate God. He is love- if He stopped loving us He wouldn't be who He is (1 John 4:8). So in saying that, there is nothing lovely about us, the only reason He loves us is because God is love.
I also studied the word "righteous" because this person was using the word worthy along with righteous as if they meant the same thing. I found out they are completely different. Righteous means to meet the standards of what is right and just- God's holy standards; to be guiltless. We are declared righteous through Christ's death on the cross and ressurrection and our faith in Him- and in this God's love was graciously and abundantly poured out on us while we were still His enemies and dead in our sins(Ephesians 2:4-5)! Now we can approach His throne in confidence through Christ alone. God looks at the righteousness of Christ that has been charged to our account and now we are covered in His righteousness!
In conclusion, we are not now, nor ever will be "worthy" of His love, although He will always love us. Only He is worthy of our love, honor, admiration, and praise which He will receive for eternity (Revelation 5:12). If you are declared righteous by faith through Christ you will eternally be singing "Worthy is the Lamb!" to the Triune God in Heaven.

Happy Mother's Day!

For all of us moms, this is our one day a year, with exceptions, that we don't have to do anything and everyone caters to us...well, maybe we might do the dishes, or clean up...oops it's supposed to be Mother's day! I don't know what it is about us mothers, even when our family is trying their best to make it a relaxing day for us we still find something to do! I guess it is true what they say- a woman's work is never done!