If you don’t feel loved by God, you’ll struggle to show love to others. Loving people is easy when you understand and remember the way God loves you.

Every day, whether you’re a ministry leader or not, you need to remind yourself what God thinks about you—not what your church or your neighbors think about you.

Here are four things God thinks about you to help you remember why and how you need to love others:

You’re completely accepted. You may have spent much of your life trying to earn acceptance from your parents, fellow pastors, the congregations you’ve served, and even total strangers. But you need to realize God has already settled this issue of acceptance: “Jesus . . . made us acceptable to God” (Titus 3:7 CEV). What Jesus did on the cross made you completely acceptable to God—no matter what you’ve done or will do.

You’re unconditionally loved. God doesn’t say, “I love you if . . .” or “I love you because . . .” He says, “I love you—period! ” You can’t make God stop loving you, because his love isn’t based on what you do but on who he is. Isaiah 54:10 says, “The mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end” (GNT).

You’re totally forgiven. Because Jesus died on the cross and gave his life as payment for your sins, you are totally forgiven when you accept God’s gift of forgiveness. Romans 8:1 says, “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (NLT). God doesn’t rehearse your sins; he releases them.

You’re extremely valuable. The value of something is created by two things: Who the owner is and what somebody’s willing to pay for it. You are a child of God and “have been bought and paid for by Christ” (1 Corinthians 7:23 TLB). Jesus Christ paid for you with his life. That’s how valuable you are.

When you remember that you are accepted, loved, forgiven, and valuable to the Creator of the universe, you will be better equipped to love and lead others.