BelovedSample

CLAIMING YOUR IDENTITY AS BELOVED

At Jesus’ baptism and again during the transfiguration, God declared publicly, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17 ESV; 17:5 ESV). He could have said, “This is my all-powerful Son,” or “This is my perfect Son,” but He didn’t. The one thing that the Father wanted everyone to know was that Jesus was His beloved!

If God were to introduce you to the world, would He use the same sentence? The apostle John would say yes.

I used to think it was strange that John called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20). It would be like one of my kids saying, “I’m the beloved child.” It sounds inappropriate, not to mention arrogant! But the truth is, John’s statement is perfectly appropriate.

John understood the depths of God’s love for him—that he could take on the identity of the beloved along with Jesus Himself! And suddenly everything else seemed utterly insignificant in comparison.

Note that John was the one who recorded this statement that some of us have a hard time believing: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” (John 15:9 ESV). John actually heard Jesus say this to him, and he trusted that Jesus meant what He said. So John’s confidence had nothing to do with arrogance, and everything to do with faith. John was expressing faith in God’s love, not his own lovability.

And marvelously, this love is offered to all. As John recorded another time, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV).

In Christ, we have been given a whole new identity—beloved—that completely transforms our lives. Let us live in this new identity and enjoy it more and more each day.

Prayer: “I give You the glory, Lord, for receiving me into Your kingdom and loving me.”