One of the greatest fears that
we have are to be fully known. For somebody to really know you.
I mean, really know you. Like, all of it. And that's why
we get so religious. And we try to clean ourselves
up on the outside, and we try to perform, we try to live up,
you know, have some great status. In our hearts, in the depth of
who we are, we believe, if we, if they fully knew me, then they
wouldn't love me. They wouldn't truly love me if
they knew me. So I can't be fully known. And
maybe you have a friend in your life that you finally, or a spouse
or something, you finally came to somebody and you sort of like
just threw it out there to them. And in that moment when you actually
allowed yourself to be known about some of the things that
you and I have been hiding in our closets for years and years
and years, in that moment when you're sort of waiting for that
response, when that person loves you and accepts you, and even
says something back to you like, thank you so much for sharing
that with me. Thank you so much that you trusted me. In fact,
you know what? I really respect you and love
you more that you found me trustworthy enough to share that with me.
You start to have a freedom with that person. That your relationship
with them isn't based upon what they saw on the outside, but
they begin to truly Really, you begin to experience love with
them because they know you and still chose to stay. You see,
our relationship with God, Jesus knows everything about you. He
knows your past. He knows every mistake. He knows
every single problem that I have. He knows every single thing you're
gonna do that you haven't even done yet. And still looks at
you and says, I fully know you. I know you better than you know
yourself. And I still love you. Hayden, my daughter, she has
this little stuffed animal. It's called Buddy, right? Many
of you over the years have maybe seen this, but it's this little
pink stuffed animal. Buddy has been dragged through the mud.
you know, dropped in puddles, right, in the rain, left outside,
right, during the day. Literally, Buddy's been flushed
down the toilet. If it was up to me, this thing
is so raggedy and nasty, I'd be like, get that. In fact, I've
talked about it. Like, let's get this thing out
of here. But this is the truth. There is nothing in our house,
right, besides Amber and I and the kids, that has a greater
worth in our house than Buddy. Hayden, you could burn the whole
house down. But if there's one thing she
wants out of that house, it's Buddy. And you know why? There's nothing inherent to Buddy
that brings its worth and significance to Hayden. Nothing. The worth
and significance... Now, listen, even I, I've trucked
all the way back to Papa's house, everything else to get this thing.
Right? At night, because we can't fall
asleep, because we left it at Papa's. Hayden's love for Buddy,
the significance and worth that Buddy has to Hayden has nothing
to do with Buddy. It has everything to do with
what Hayden thinks of it. What it means to her. how much
value and worth it has to her. So it doesn't matter what I think.
Right? Listen, many of us have been
flushed down the toilet, dropped in the puddle, threw ourselves
in the puddle, flushed ourselves down the toilet. Right? And in
and of ourselves, we could say, man, I'm worthless. But listen,
it's of no bearing to God. None. None at all. that your
worth and your significance comes solely from what God thinks about
you. Jesus is saying, I know exactly
what I'm going to go through, but I don't want to spend eternity
without you. And he was willing to go to the
cross and not just be crucified, but take God's wrath and judgment
on our behalf.