This week brings another guest post from Sylvia Gunter. The first time I read this, I began reading quickly, taking some things for granted, but I found myself slowing down, even stopping, because the truths hit their mark forcing me to receive. Noises from culture are constantly questioning our legitimacy, attempting to define us in ways we were never intended to be defined.
Understanding our true legitimacy invites us to stand out like Cardinals on a gray winter day.
For anyone who has a penchant to get hung up on gender designations, please remember, just as we are all part of the Bride of Christ, we are also all beloved sons. May Abba touch and heal those places in each of us that cry out for belonging.
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Receive God’s Word in John 17:23 NLT. “I in them and you in me… Then the world will know…and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.”
At His baptism and transfiguration, God affirmed His love and pleasure in His Son. He said to Jesus, “You are the Son I love. I am well pleased with You” (Mat. 3:17; 17:5). Because you are in Him, the Father loves you with the same love (John 17:23,26). You are God’s beloved; that is the most intimate truth about you. It has to be true, because Jesus said it. Be blessed to live from the blessing of belovedness, not trying to attain it.
You are precious to your Father. He celebrates your existence. You were infinitely loved before you were wounded. That’s the truth of your life. There is no burden on you to prove you are worthy of being loved, of being heard, of being respected, honored, and given dignity. Your life is an unceasing “yes” to the truth that you are beloved because of God’s great love. In Him you are accepted and valued.
It is your spirit connection with your Father that matters. People do not give you legitimacy. True legitimacy comes from the One who chose you with everlasting love. Your Father says, “I called you by name from the very beginning. You belong to me. I know you as my own, and you know Me as your own true Father. I carved you in the palms of My Son. I hide you in My embrace. You have My infinite tenderness.”
Say “Yes” to your belovedness, your significance, your worth, and your belonging. His “Yes” is engraved on your heart. Rise up to discover how to fulfill your deepest essence of who you are, beloved in God your Father and kept in His Son.
Andrea Van Boven (Madden): I like to think I am a radical lover of Jesus, but I live in a house and pay bills and look like I fit in with respectable society, like most people. What goes on in my head and heart are hopefully the things that betray the look of "normal" that comes at first glance. I hope those things inside of me seep out to actions as well as words of hope and encouragement. I pray that these in turn will lead others to know the loving Creator who knows us so intimately that he has a number for every hair on every head.
