How to Turn Passion Into PurposeExemplo

Every human being is loved as a unique individual by a personal God, and we each have the freedom to love him and others as well. What does that love mean? It means that God delights in our existence and wills good for us, even to the point of dying for us.

Love is a choice, an act of the will, for the good of the other person. The ultimate expression of love, as Jesus Christ himself said, is this: “Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). We cannot love our neighbor as ourselves if we do not first see ourselves as worth loving. Accepting that we are worthy of love is not selfishness, nor is it self-worship. It is preparation for the battle ahead. If we are going to fight for a cause, especially one that could alienate many of those around us, our sense of worth may be called into question, either by external enemies or by internal doubts. To push through, we have to learn to see ourselves the way God sees us—as creatures who are unconditionally loved by him and, through baptism, as daughters and sons. We must consciously reject the lies about our worth that may come from our childhood, the world around us, or an inexplicable voice inside of us. Once we reject these lies, we replace them with this truth: each of us is wonderfully made in God’s image and beloved by him.

If our work to change the world is rooted in our “belovedness,” we can face any challenge, endure any persecution, overcome any resistance. “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16).