Beloved & Blessed

Luke 3:22
…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."

It’s a beautiful moment in the Bible when God openly declares his great love for Jesus during his baptism. A part of me, when I read it thinks, “Would God say that about me? Would he say that I am his beloved and that he is pleased?”

If you’ve read The Shack, you may have noticed that in several points in the novel, Papa (God) makes reference to the fact that she is “especially fond” of someone in the book. The 2nd time it occurred, I questioned, “Surely the author is not trying to say that God has favorites?”

But haven’t we all wondered that at times? We wonder if God considers some more beloved than others. We wonder if, when hard times come, God may not love us as much as we thought he did. Or maybe we wonder if there is something we could do that would cause God to love us more. Maybe we fear that he’s not as pleased with us as he is with some others, therefore affecting his love for us.

“To the degree that those fears have a place in your life,
you neither believe I am good nor know
deep in your heart that I love you.
You sing about it; you talk about it,

but you don’t know it.”
~Jesus to Mack in The Shack

God’s love for us is separate from our actions. God’s love for us is not dependent on our actions, no more than our love diminishes when our own children behave in ways that disappoint and discourage us.

By the third time Papa states that she “is especially fond of someone” I realized that, given the opportunity, it’s a message that God is trying to convey to each and every one of us, not just a chosen few.

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

~St. Augustine

In a beautiful little book by Henri Nouwen entitled, Life of the Beloved – Spiritual Living in a Secular World, Nouwen aims to get the same message across: “You are beloved by God,” and...

…“The voice that calls us the Beloved

wills us words to bless others
and reveal to them that they are no less.”
~Henri Nouwen

At the end of The Shack, Papa asks Mack to relay a message to a friend of his. “Tell Willie I am especially fond of him.” When we acknowledge the gift of our own belovedness, we can’t help but want to encourage others claim to their belovedness as well.

Beloved and blessed, that’s what you are.

After all, God is especially fond of you.

The Hard Task of Love

Last week was a “learning week” in which I felt God was challenging me to see things His way -with loving eyes - instead of relying on my own inadequate, myopic attempts at understanding. First, I was confused and upset, then asked God to lead me, and finally acknowledged that I can’t see the big picture (or my place in it) yet.
As I wondered what my place was, what was being expected of me, how I could be relevant, I picked up and re-read a short book by Henri Nouwen, entitled In the Name of Jesus.

Nouwen, writes how he “stepped away from the academic life to accept a call to be a priest for mentally handicapped people and their assistants...[and moved from] the best and the brightest, wanting to rule the world, to men and women who had few or no words and were considered, at best, marginal to the needs of our society.”

Nouwen points to how the first temptation Jesus faces in the desert is to be relevant, to change rocks into bread. Anyone who has a business, works, guides a family, loves a spouse, teaches a class, serves on a committee, has a blog that you want people to read, or any other numerous activities is prodded by this same temptation to be relevant. I know I am.

As I read along, I was struck by the idea that God does not need us to be relevant, He needs us to love others. My first thought was, “Easier said than done.” Here’s how Nouwen writes about it:

“The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show some results?
But: Are you in love with Jesus?”

Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. My kids get annoyed when I repeat things to them, but when I use this tactic, it’s because I want to be sure they heard me right, that it really sinks in and that later, they won’t say, “I didn’t hear you say that.” My repetition is a way of making sure they get it. Jesus wanted to make sure Peter “got it” and he wants us to “get it” too.

The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.”
~John 21:17

In the same manner, if we love Jesus, we will feed His sheep. Feeding his sheep means we will act even though we fear, give even when we don’t feel generous and love even though it’s hard.

It seems easier to be God than to love God,
easier to control people than to love people,
easier to own life than to love life.
~Henri Nouwen