Beloved of God

I heard Jason Gray on the radio the other day talking about his song "Remind me who I am." The inspiration of the song came when he was thinking about sin and why we sin. Jason describes sin as an "addiction" or an attempt to satisfy our hunger for significance. We want to feel "loved, desirable, and worthy." So, "We run to affairs. We surround ourselves with symbols of status that we hope will convince us of our worth."

If only we could learn to run to Christ, the One who calls us His beloved, His bride, the child that He chose to welcome into His family. We would hear Him tell us that we are enough because He says so. We would hear Him call us His treasure, and we would come alive. -- Jason Gray

Our worth does not come from what we do or what we think. We cannot earn the love we so earnestly desire. When we look to the world or look to ourselves for fulfillment, we will be let down every time. But when we look to God--He calls us beloved. He calls us beautiful.

Consider that for just a moment.

When you mess up. When you struggle with sin and temptation. When you act like a hypocrite. When you speak out of turn and when you cause hurt. When you stumble and fall and bring shame to the Name of God. When you feel worthless and deserving of hell. There is forgiveness and mercy--you are the beloved of God.

No matter how much you know. No matter how many mysteries you have solved. Now matter how well you can recite Scripture or read Hebrew. No matter how strict your standards or how perfect your observance. No matter how close you feel to God. None of that matters. God created you and He loves you as His treasure.

How often I forget this. How often I feel like I need to do better, I need get my life straight so that God can use me. There's always something I'm missing, somewhere I'm failing. And then I find a bit of knowledge and shout "I got it right!" when in reality it is God who chose at that time to reveal a piece of Himself to me. I forget that as a friend once told me, "I know nothing more and nothing less than what my Master has revealed to me."

I'm finally starting to understand why the church repeats the Gospel so much. We need to hear it often. We need to be reminded of our inadequacy and of His abundant love and mercy. We cannot earn God's love nor do we have to. We need to be reminded of who we are--the children of God, the beloved of our King.

Forgiven, beloved
Hidden in Christ
Made in the image of the Giver of Life
Righteous and holy, reborn and remade
Accepted and worthy
This is our new name
This is who we are now...
-- Jason Gray, "I am new"