READ: JOHN 6:37-40; EPHESIANS 1:3-14; COLOSSIANS 1:9-14

Four months after Marmalade came out of the darkness of his stair home, he found his forever home with me. Last night, as he lay on top of me, loud purr rumbling, I thought about how we are all very much like Marmalade.

When we live apart from Jesus, we don’t know there is a better way to live. At first, we are content to live in the darkness, alone in the dirt of our sin. The first step toward life is realizing that we are in need of rescue (Romans 3:23-24).

When Marmalade came out from his hiding place and allowed me and my friend to rescue him, he didn’t make us wait while he attempted to clean himself up. He came just as he was: fleas, ticks, matted fur and all. This is the same way God wants us to come to Him. It can be tempting to think, “If I just take care of this issue first…” But in John 6:37, Jesus said He will never turn away anyone who comes to Him. God sees us in all our ugly, messy sin, and He loves us. Out of love, Jesus took our sins upon Himself when He went to the cross. When we come to Jesus as we are, though our sins are like scarlet, He will wash us white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).

Like Marmalade is adopted into my family, God adopts us into His family the moment we put our trust in His Son, Jesus, the One who shed His blood to save us and rose from the grave to give us life. Once we belong to Him, we are His sons and daughters. Our spirits will testify that we are His forever (Romans 8:14-17; 10:9-13). • Savannah Coleman

• Have you ever felt like, if you could just take care of an issue or sin in your life first, then you could come to God? Lots of us have felt this way, but the good news is we could never make ourselves right in God’s sight, yet He loves us. And He has made the way for us to come to Him through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. If you have questions about what it means to be rescued by Jesus, who are trusted Christians in your life you can talk to? (Also visit our “Know Jesus” page.)

• When you are a child of the Most High God, nothing can separate you from His love (Romans 8:38-39). You are chosen, your identity is found in Him, your eternity is set. You are for the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:11-14). Through Jesus, you have been totally forgiven and brought near to live with God forever. And His Holy Spirit lives in you, transforming you into Jesus’s image and empowering you to live in His good ways. How might it be freeing to know that God rescues us because He delights in us? (Psalm 18:19)

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. Psalm 18:19 (NIV)