SCRIPTURE:
“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:16-17
OBSERVATION:
At Jesus’ baptism, we find God making these statements: Jesus is His son, Jesus is loved by Him and Jesus is pleasing to Him. Up until this point, Jesus’ Ministry hadn’t started yet and there wasn’t much recorded that He had done, but we see that He is loved and pleasing to God the Father.
APPLICATION:
When we don’t know our true identity, it’s easy to see love as being transactional, as something that needs to be earned by what we do. If we’re being honest, many of us may have fallen into the thinking that if we did more and achieved more, that we would be loved more. Loved more by our parents, friends and family. Loved more by God. At the same time we may have believed this to be true as well – When we sin, when we mess up and when we disappoint others, we are then loved less.
However, we see this truth at work – Jesus didn’t have to do anything to earn God’s love. He was loved for simply being His child. And we, as children of God are recipients of that same unconditional love. There is nothing more that we need to do to earn that love. There is nothing that shall separate us from that love (Romans 8:38-39).
When we understand God’s love for us and understand who we are in Him, then we can walk in true freedom, but that starts with a choice. We need to choose God’s love for us and choose to believe the truth about who He says we are and not who others have said we are.
PRAYER:
Father Almighty. Forgive me Lord when I have believed what the world has said about me over what You say. Thank You Lord for Your unconditional love. I choose to receive Your love, Your forgiveness and Your blessings in my life, this I pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
