Beloved

Thursday December 24, 2020

Galatians 4:21
“…you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.”

Dear Friends,

If I could distill the wonder and amazement of this universe down to something obtainable. If I could condense the vast and boundless reality of God’s good news into something that could fit on a throw pillow, I would. God knows people have tried and muddied it all up and cheapened God, stuffing “Him” into a box that’s easy to carry, unoffensive, and welcomed with open arms into country club church buildings. A baby in a manger makes a lovely wall hanging. We’ve forever compressed Jesus into something more manageable. 

I wish I could compress Jesus into an equation because math makes sense. You plug in the numbers and come out with a result. A + B = C. And maybe it is that simple to some degree. Loving God + Loving People = God’s Kingdom. But, friends, this equation is contingent upon what we do, and what we do does matter, yes. But it must begin with who we are. Doing is good and we’re created to do, but we were first created to be. To abide. To rest in our primary identity as beloved. When God first created, the first job for those first humans was to rest and be. And this is not something I can fit into an equation. 

Most of the dark parts in life and humanity—hatred, war, violence, exploitation, manipulation, greed—apart from the rarer mental illnesses, these can all be rooted in self-hatred, insecurity, and shame. Friends, we can love God and love people all day long but if we haven’t believed our own lovability, if we haven’t received our primary identity as beloved, our doing is often rooted in the hopes of undoing self-hatred, insecurity, and shame. That equation must include loving God and people AS MUCH as we love ourselves. But there’s no equation or formula that tells us how to receive and live into that identity of beloved. 

Honestly, I don’t think it can come from your own effort or how you muster up believing what God says about you is true of you. The Holy Spirit is forever whispering the truth of how loved we are but sometimes our heart posture is closed off, or we’re shut down or too distracted to pay attention. There’s a word of truth about your belovedness that Holy Spirit wants to speak over you and I want to invite you to receive it. 

Close your eyes, open your hands to receive, and take a few deep breaths, breathing in “speak” and breathing out “I’m listening.” Holy Spirit wants you to know there’s all the time in the world.

Friends, there is no equation I can give you and there are no five steps to knowing you’re beloved. It’s a posture of being and receiving, today. 

The point of Christmas isn’t to catapult us to Good Friday and Easter, like Jesus was born to die. Christmas tells us a different story where God came near, not because you’re this horrible, nasty person but because you are so very loved and God will do anything to help you believe this truth about yourself. While there are things you might want to shift, shed, or scrap with behaviors and habits, there is nothing to hate about yourself. There is simply so much to love. 

May you know how loved you are and may you embody what it means to receive that love, without some equation. May you know God has drawn near to you in your grief, heart-break, uncertainty, and disappointment and may you know you are not alone this Christmas Eve.

With (love),
Bethany