God’s Beloved
Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash.
Who are you? What does God say about who you are?
You are the beloved of God. God made you. God knows you. God has redeemed you. God calls you by his own name. God makes you his own.
The Prophet Isaiah wrote, “But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1, ESV).
We also see what God thinks of his children at the baptism of his Son Jesus. God sends his Holy Spirit to descend upon Jesus. God calls Jesus his Son, his beloved—even before Jesus began his official ministry. God says he is well pleased with Jesus, and he had not even begun to serve him.
Luke tells us this about the Baptism of Jesus, “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:21-22, ESV).
Jesus was obedient to his Father and sought to be baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist, when the people were coming to be baptized by him. Jesus prayed—talking to his Father at his baptism and God responded with his presence—The Holy Spirit, and a word of blessing ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’
God sees his children as his beloved and God is pleased with his children when they come to him in obedience and in prayer and when they seek to be identified with him in his baptism.
May we see ourselves as God sees us—as his beloved, and may we seek God in obedience, in prayer, and in baptism and receive his unending presence in receiving his Holy Spirit.
The First Sunday Of Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord: “Eternal Father, at the baptism of Jesus you revealed him to be your Son, and your Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove: Grant that we, who are born again by water and the Spirit, may be faithful as your adopted children; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
Happy New Year! Start the new year off right with a daily devotional time, with Grow 365, for January. I will be creating a devotional book for every month this year and offering them free by subscribing. Get a link to Grow 365: January here: https://www.robbiepruitt.com
Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash.
