In the past couple of weeks we have read and heard thrilling, comforting, and amazing words about who and whose we are and what that means from the Apostle Paul (his letter wasn’t just to the Christians in Rome, but to you and me as well). In a variety of ways we have heard “You are my beloved child.” (See Mark 1:9-11 and understand you are in Christ, these words are words addressed to you)
From Romans 8
all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. (v. 14)
you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (vv. 15-17)
God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spiritintercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (v. 27)
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (v. 28)
If God is for us, who is against us? (v. 31)
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (vv. 37-39)
Begin and continue the conversation (leave a comment, reply to comments)
- Do you believe this? Do you believe that you are God’s beloved child?
- Is it “easy” to believe this? “Hard” to believe this? “Impossible” to believe this? How does this statement “You are God’s beloved child” sit with you?
Need more prompting? Henri J.M. Nouwen presented a Sermon Series “Being the Beloved” at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA. I’m not sure what year this was presented (Henri Nouwen died in 1996), but the message is timeless. The series consists of 8 videos on YouTube (the link is to the first in the series; just above the video you will find a menu item “8 videos” which you can click and all 8 video links will be presented to you). I commend this series to you. –djr
LISTEN AND VIEW
Being the Beloved by Henri J.M. Nouwen
Hear what the Spirit is saying 
Hey all. After posting “Being the Beloved” WordPress presented me with a bunch of other posts with the tag “beloved” Among them was this post – http://alinermello.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/the-beloved-battling-low-self-esteem/ – from Aline, a college student in Georgia. Check out her post and leave a comment. Let’s extend the conversation in our Forum all the way to Georgia (and even Brazil, her country of origin)
I do believe that we are all “God’s beloved children,” but I often think that God’s love should apply more to other people than to me. The statement “you are God’s beloved child” makes me verrrrry uncomfortable, even though I know/hope/believe it’s true. When you spend much of your life focused on your sin rather than God’s grace, it’s really hard to fathom that God could love you at all. Yet His love is confirmed daily by both the scripture and by the peace in my heart and in my life.
Short answer: God’s love makes me grateful, joyful, hopeful, nervous, and uncomfortable!