“Because God loves his enemies, God sent his Son to rescue messed up people like me from the misery of our sin and the punishment that our sin deserves. I deserved to be taken out, but Jesus died for me — in my place. And God did it because he loves me (Rom. 5:6-8).”

It Can Be Scary

One day I checked my Facebook page and I saw that one of my friends tagged me in a link to the song “You Know Me” by Bethel Music. The basic message of the song is that the same God who has created the universe—this big God, this grand God—knows me intimately.

When I first listened to the song, I was unmoved. Why would I want God to know me? Why would I want him to see my life? I am a mess and I struggle with sin daily. Why would I want him to see the dark thoughts of my heart? Why would I want him to know my every move?

God Will Punish

There have been countless times I have dishonored God and have been ungrateful towards him.  I know I am a sinner. A holy, just, and righteous God will punish sin (Exodus 34:7; Romans 2:1-11). He will surely pour his wrath and fury out upon humanity for the ways it has lived in his world and survived off of his goodness, but has still broken his laws and dishonored him as God to his face (Nahum 1:2-3).

It can feel like you are a piece of trash. It might feel like the only reason God hasn’t thrown you away yet is because he hasn’t worked up the motivation to throw away something as small and insignificant as you.

It can feel like you are a piece of spoiled food. And as soon as God smells you and realizes that you are no good, he will turn away with a look of disgust.

It can feel like you are a specimen under a microscope and God is frowning at all your flaws magnified by the lens. All you want to do is hide, but you can’t.

Such can be the feelings of a self-aware sinner who knows that God is overwhelmingly big and powerful, who knows that God is displeased by sin, and who knows that God’s justice means that he will punish those who break his law.

The Gospel Makes It Sweet

But praise God for the gospel of Jesus Christ! Months later, the song came back to my memory, and I said to myself, “It is the gospel that makes the fact that God knows me sweet!”

Because God loves his enemies, God sent his Son to rescue messed up people like me from the misery of our sin and the punishment that our sin deserves. I deserved to be taken out, but Jesus died for me — in my place. And God did it because he loves me (Rom. 5:6-8). God loves me! Jesus has risen, being gloriously exalted as the eternal King and the Son of God (Rom. 1:4; Acts 2:29-33). I know I am forgiven because I have placed my faith in Jesus. Because I have faith, I am considered righteous in God’s eyes (Rom. 4:3-8, 23-25).  I deserved to be destroyed because of my unrighteousness, but now God declares me righteous through Jesus. God forgives, and he is delighted to do so (Zeph. 3:14-20; Luke 15:3-7).

The Comfort of Being Known

Through Jesus, God transforms trash into his own handiwork (Eph. 2:10). Through Jesus, God makes the imperfect, perfect (Heb. 10:14). Through Jesus, God removes your wrongdoing so far from you that the distance is hard to even grasp by the human mind (Psalm 103:12). Shame and fear must flee because the God who knows me loves me! The God who knows me forgives me completely! The God who knows me knows me as righteous!

And because God knows everything, there is nothing new that he can find out. You can stop fronting with God. God didn’t send his Son to save the fake “you,” the “you” that you show to other people, the “you” that you hope God doesn’t see. God sees through your defenses and masks. God knows the real you, and guess what? Jesus came to rescue that “real you.” And he invites you to believe in him (Luke 15:11-24, 18:9-14; Rom. 8:31-39).

Run to Jesus

Friends, God commands you to turn away from your sins and the feelings of shame, guilt, insignificance, fear, and emptiness that your sins bring.

Run to Jesus. Sincerely confess to Jesus that you know that you are guilty and deserve God’s wrath. Believe and trust that Jesus is your risen Savior. Sincerely confess to Jesus that you receive him as your Lord. He is forgiving to those who call upon him (Rom. 10:9-13).

God knows you, the real you. And his arms are open to embrace you. Why don’t you come to him?

This article first appeared on raanetwork.org, and is used with permission.

[Editor’s note: The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed. Also, one or more original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid; those links have been removed.]