Thoughs on Love and Being Loved

I've struggled off and on for sometime with having a good self-image and not basing my identity or acceptance in my success or how others think of me. I have a hard time remembering all the time that I am a child of God and that He loves me no matter what. Nothing I can do can change (lessen or increase) His love for me.

My name, David, means "beloved" in Hebrew. I guess God knew head of time that I would need that reminder of His love for me. I carry it with me. God loves me, just because I am me.

I was thinking while driving home last night that I can't truly say, "I love you" to everyone, because I don't. Not in the truest sense of the word. I can only love people when I know them. I wouldn't give me life up for some stranger on the street. God, however, calls us to love everyone. Jesus didn't give His life up for strangers; He gave His life up for people He knew (since God knows everyone). When we are called to love people, we're called to get to know them. And once we get to know them, it doesn't matter what the do or how they act, we're called to love them no matter what. Just like God does with us.