Day Seven

Here’s a quick exercise:

Pick five words to describe yourself.

I’ll give you a minute.

OK. Which five words did you choose? Chances are (unless you read the title of this blog post ahead of time), the words you chose had something to do with your personality or maybe a physical characteristic or two…

—funny
—shy
—short
—extroverted
—forgetful

Over the years we accumulate a lot of words which we think apply to ourselves. Some are true, some maybe not so much. Some we like, some maybe not so much.

As we look at ourselves in light of the events of Good Friday and Easter, though, there are other words that come to the forefront. Or at least they should.

—forgiven
—delivered
—restored
—cleansed
—welcomed

And at the heart of all these is another word, one that applies to us…even if we have a hard time accepting it. Because sometimes we do.

—beloved

It’s a word that to some might seem out-of-date and out-of-place, like something that’s more at home in a Shakespearean sonnet or a romantic operetta than in a list of words we’d use for ourselves. But if we are going to take to heart the message of Easter, it’s a word that is well worth considering. The more we reflect on what God has done for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus, it’s an inescapable truth:

We are God’s beloved.

If we find this word an uncomfortable fit for self-reference, I wonder if it’s more than an issue of antiquated language. If we resist the word, maybe it’s because we don’t fully accept the truth behind it. Maybe we don’t consider ourselves beloved.

I think many of us go through our spiritual lives feeling as though God’s acceptance of us is a reluctant one, as if he only welcomes us because he’s obligated to. There can be a lot of reasons we might feel this way—it might be rooted in a false understanding of ourselves, or a false understanding of God. We might wrestle with shame, thinking, “I know God forgives my sin, but I still think he probably doesn’t like me all that much.” Or maybe we struggle with envy, thinking, “Look at how [insert name here] is blessed by God. God must love them more than me.” Or it might just be that the image of God we’ve been presented with over the years has been lacking, painting him as a spiteful deity instead of a loving Father.

Friends, don’t give in to these lies. Rest in these truths:

God welcomes you with open arms.
God delights in you.
You are his beloved.

In the first epistle of John, we are reminded of this:

“Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children.”—1 John 3:1 (TPT)

His very own beloved children. That’s what we are. We can know this because of what we see and experience in our commemoration of Easter:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”—Romans 5:8 (NIV)

So let’s finish with a quick exercise:

Pick five words to describe yourself. And make sure one of them is “beloved.”

I’ll give you a minute.

He says, "You're mine, I smiled when I made you
I find you beautiful in every way
My love for you is fierce and unending
I'll come to find you, whatever it takes
My beloved

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

👉 Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel: https://IntegrityMusic.lnk.to/YTsubscribe🎼 Learn To Play: https://www.weareworship.com/us/songs/view/belovedness-9921/2...

Questions for Reflection

1) How well do you “own your belovedness?” If you sense resistance within yourself, what might be behind that? How can you bring it to God in prayer?

2) In the words of today’s song:

It's time to hear what your father has spoken
It's time to own your belovedness

What kinds of things help you hear God speaking that kind of love into your life? Where are you most likely to be open to hearing him? What might prevent you from hearing him?

3) Think back on your walk with God and spend some time giving thanks for the people who made God’s love real for you, who made you feel “beloved” in a way that reflected him.

4) Do you sense any resistance within yourself to the lyric, “I find you beautiful in every way?” Bring to God in prayer the things about yourself that push back against that thought, and ask him to help you see yourself through his eyes.

5) Read and reflect on this passage of Scripture. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”—Ephesians 3:17b-19 (CSB)