Beloved
Page 11
Don’t let anything stop you from loving like that. Give it all away at least once.
But you and I know that being loving to people we meet in our everyday life can be just as challenging. Who are your enemies? Who do you just simply not like? Who do you not defend when others backchat about them? Who are you happy to see leave the room?
Those names that popped into your mind are your opportunity to live differently. Here’s your chance to live out the truth that, as you are loved so completely, you have nothing to lose in loving others. In fact, you have it all to gain!
I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never – I promise – regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
(Luke 6:35–36 MSG)
I imagine that sometimes you’re impulsive, passionate, unpredictable. I reckon that, like me, you have a tendency at times to be selfish, rebellious, doubting. There are times when you love yourself and times when you doubt yourself. But you’re loved so passionately and completely that you can find your feet and learn to live from a heart that’s been melted and made whole by a Saviour who will love you now and into eternity.
This is your life; you’re breathtaking. And you’re called to pour yourself out in love, as love. Day after day after day.
God has not only rescued you; he’s changing you and drawing you into a deeper, more reckless love than you’ve ever known. Your life is no longer your own. It’s a wonderful offering of worship to the One who calls you to love as you’ve been loved. For people to know that you belong to him because of the love that radiates from you.
Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples – when they see the love you have for each other.
(John 13:34–35 MSG)
It won’t be easy.
You’ve got some mountains ahead of you that your love for Jesus will compel you to climb. You’ll reveal your beauty where there’s only the ugliness of lies and pain; you’ll love selflessly, even when others have given up; you’ll fight injustices, even when people try to silence you.
Where is God asking you to be love? Where’s the ‘here’ he’s asking you to call home? Where will you bear the fruit of a life surrendered to him? City, slum, countryside, desert, housing estate? Your life will be extraordinary because you’ll heal the sick here in Jesus’ name. You’ll get a job here. Cast out demons here. You’ll raise children here. Pay your taxes here. Feed the hungry here. You’ll vote or even stand in local elections here. Care for the environment here. You’ll be a generous leader and a humble servant here. You’ll learn to love people more, and you’ll learn to love yourself more here. You’ll be disappointed and anointed. You’ll be beautiful and broken and brilliant.
What I’m discovering is that I only do anything lasting when I do it for the sake of Love. When I step out of the safety of the boat onto the crashing waves. When I realize that beneath my feet might be water, but with me is the One who is greater than the storm.
There is nothing like Love.
He is already eternally yours,
And his love will always find you.
So be full of love, be free in love and be fierce in being love, as you grow in knowing that you are God’s beloved.
To me – Jesus is my God.
Jesus is my Spouse.
Jesus is my Life.
Jesus is my only Love.
Jesus is my All in all.
Jesus is my everything.
Jesus, I love with my whole heart, with my whole being.
I have given Him all, even my sins, and He has espoused me to Himself in all tenderness and love.17
Rend Collective, ‘True Intimacy’, from the album, Homemade Worship by Handmade People (2011).
I remember once hearing a journalist referring to Beyoncé as a ‘fierce woman’. The word ‘fierce’ has recently been adopted by our culture to mean ‘confident’ and ‘determined’. We’re not Beyoncé, and our lives are not lived out on a stage in front of adoring fans. We live for an audience of One: God. So our confidence comes from our identity as beloved women, and our determination comes from our hunger to see people transformed by God’s love and his Word.
Bill Johnson, Hosting the Presence: Unveiling Heaven’s Agenda (Destiny Image, 2013), p. 131.
John Ortberg, www.goodreads.com/quotes/522172-god-sees-with-utter-clarity-who-we-are-he-is (accessed 20 April 2015).
Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels (SPCK, 2008), pp. 189–275.
See Kat Cannon, ‘Designed to Be Brave’, www.todayschristianwoman.com/articles/2013/september/designed-to-be-brave.html (accessed 13 April 2015).
Lisa Hickey, ‘Chasing Beauty: An Addict’s Memoir’, http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/chasing-beauty-and-addicts-memoir (accessed 20 April 2015).
From a talk given by John O’Donohue at Greenbelt 2004: ‘Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace’, www.greenbelt.org.uk/media/talks/13985-john-odonohue.
From her ‘Essence’ speech. See http://www.vulture.com/2014/02/read-lupita-nyongs-moving-essence-speech.html (accessed 25 March 2015).
Steve Maraboli, see www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/14708444-life-the-truth-and-being-free (accessed 20 April 2015).
Rachel Gardner and André Adefope, The Dating Dilema: A Romance Revolution (Inter-Varsity Press, 2013), p. 137.
Judith K. Balswick and Jack O. Balswick, Authentic Human Sexuality: An Integrated Christian Approach (IVP Academic, 2008), p. 69.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, abridged edn (SCM, 1971), p. 141.
Sam Storms: read more at http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/20-christian-quotes-about-purity/#ixzz3TAgi3MiT.
Cited in Paula Rinehart, Strong Women, Soft Hearts: A Woman’s Guide to Cultivating a Wise Heart and a Passionate Life (Thomas Nelson, 2005), p. 82.
Cited in Pocket Prayers, compiled by Christopher Herbert (Church House, 2004), p. 8.
Mother Teresa, cited in Cris Rogers, Immeasurably More (Lion Hudson, 2015), p. 99.