🔥 Day 11: Loved Just As You Are

The Lie: God only loves the best version of you
The Truth Bomb: God loves you fully, right now

Read The Daily:
“When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. ‘Zacchaeus!’ he said. ‘Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.’ Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. ‘He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,’ they grumbled.” – Luke 19:5-7

Post by Alisha Miller

There are days when life feels like a 3-ring circus, where I’m juggling impossible expectations: the perfect parent, coworker, and friend. I want my kids to feel endlessly loved and supported, to be the reliable coworker everyone counts on, and the thoughtful friend who never forgets a birthday or a kind word.

But the truth is, I mess up. I lose my temper, forget to follow through, or miss a chance to check in with a friend. When I fall short, the lie sneaks in: If you were just better, Jesus would love you more.

I remember a day a few weeks ago when this lie hit hard. Driving home after a month of trying to make everything perfect, I felt drained and defeated. My mind raced through all the mistakes I’d made and all the ways I could have done better. In those moments, I can be my own worst critic.

But as I wrestled with my thoughts, God reminded me of this truth: My love for you isn’t based on your performance. I love you as you are. It was a wave of relief. God’s love doesn’t hinge on me being perfect. He knows my efforts, my shortcomings, and my heart—and He loves me fully in every role I play.

The story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19 reminds us that Jesus loves us right where we are. Zacchaeus, a despised tax collector, wasn’t asked to clean up his act before Jesus called his name. Instead, Jesus invited Himself into Zacchaeus’s life, showing love and grace that led to transformation. The love came first—not after he changed, but before.

This truth sets me free. It frees me to keep going, not to earn love, but to live out the love I’ve already been given. And it challenges me to extend that grace to others—whether I’m parenting, working, or being a friend.

Today, remember that God’s love for you is steady and unchanging. He doesn’t love the best version of you—He loves you!

Prayer for the Day

God what are you  showing me?  What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.

Read The New Testament In A Year

4 x 6 Plan | Read: John 5:1-18 & James 5:1-6

Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.
The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God. John 5:1-18

Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.. James 5:1-6

Read More – Bible Project Overviews: John, James