I used to think that the 3 most powerful words were, “I love you.”
Now, I’m not so sure.
I know that those 3 words are powerful, and that those 3 words are powerful when they’re heard, but that’s because they’re so closely related to the 3 words that I believe are the most powerful:
I AM LOVED.
I would even add 2 more words to those 3 words to make the most powerful 5-word sentence that you and I could ever speak.
I am loved BY GOD.
God is crazy about us. His love toward us is everything, and its given so lavishly that most of us spend our lives either trying to earn it or trying to disprove it.
[Tweet “God’s love for us is so lavish that most of us spend our lives trying to earn it or disprove it when God just wants us to accept it.”]“Surely a God like that couldn’t love a creature like me,” we think.
“If God really knew what I’ve done, he’d dial down the love,” we tell ourselves.
And so, we hide who we really are from the One who really knows us and still really loves us. He doesn’t love us in spite of who we are but because of who we are.
Until we know that we’re loved like that, we’ll never be able to truly and deeply love others. That’s why “I am loved” is more powerful than “I love you.”
But when we know we’re loved, we’re free to love others in a way that helps them discover the 3 most powerful words, too.
