19. My sin—the times when I offend God—does not keep Him from desiring a relationship with me.

Each of us has moments when we don’t want God to “see” us, when we turn away from Him. How does knowing that God never turns away from you make you feel?

How does the idea that God desires to have a relationship with you even when you don’t want to participate, make you feel?

What role does confession play in your relationship with God?

Besides holding imperfect images of God, we may at times do things that hurt our relationship with Him. We may reject, discredit, be angry with, withdraw, or oppose God. None of these sins changes God or affects His desire to connect with us. 

God’s grace forgives our offenses and God’s love for us remains constant and unchanging in our times of relational sinfulness. In times like these, it is our tendency to imagine that God is angry or disappointed with us. We imagine that He has stepped out of the relationship. 

Our human relationships and friendships condition us to think that our failures will cause the other person to dislike us. But that is not the case with God. God’s desire to be in relationship with us is stronger than our unhealthy behaviors. 

We simply are incapable of changing how God feels about us.