“Nobody Wants You”- A lie that’s easy to believe

“Nobody wants you.” I remember these words clearly, and my heart broke as if they were spoken to me. As I stood there, after days of trying to get her parents to pick her up, this is what she was going home to. “Nobody wants you, don’t you get that? I don’t want you. Your dad doesn’t want you. Your aunt and grandma don’t want you. I’m only here because I have to be.” The girl wept loudly and screamed at her mother, “please, I just want to go home!”

The girl had messed up. I won’t share what she had done, but she was in a Juvenile Detention Center for a reason. Can I be honest with you? I don’t know if I blame her. This conversation clearly was not the first like this, as her mother stood distantly and cold, cutting her daughter as deep as she could. For her life, this young lady had been told that she was not enough- not even good enough to come pick up until there could have been repercussions for the parents. When her dad was called, he said that the girl was not his responsibility since his name was not on the birth certificate. Her mom came because she was forced to.

That is a heavy weight to carry, and something that can shape her, called a life commandment. A life commandment is something that you believe is true because someone has affirmed it through their actions or words. Imagine those life commandments in your life. Maybe you don’t have to, maybe you have been told something similar. You’re worthless. Nobody wants you. You’re not mine. Those are some of this young lady’s life commandments. Just as you have yours and I have mine. However, just because someone said it or acted in a way that affirmed it in your mind, that does not make it true.

The truth? You are beautifully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27)- meaning your life and who you are has absolute value because of who God says you are. You are a masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10). You are loved so much that God saw that you were worth redeeming and claiming as his own (I John 4:10). So no matter what lies and garbage you have been told, God calls you by name and claims you as his own (Isaiah 43:1).

When someone calls you worthless, Jesus says you’re worth it. When it seems like nobody wants you, Jesus claims you as his own. As for the birth certificate claim? Jesus signed his life away just so he could take you home.