If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God. - 1 Peter 3:15-18 (MSG)
The writer of the book of Hebrews states “for the joy set before him [Christ] endured the cross (Heb. 12:2 NIV).
Guess who the joy was that was set before him? You and me! We are that joy!
This is to be another part of our foundation, a reality we must feel, know, and enjoy. Brent Curtis, coauthor with John Eldredge of The Sacred Romance, wrote,
“We are the ones to be called Fought Over, Captured and Rescued, and Pursued. It seems remarkable, incredible, and too good to be true. There really is something desirable within me, something the King of the universe has moved heaven and earth to get.”
We are his Beloved; the joy set before Him. Every man must experience this in a position of knowing who he is as a Beloved Son, and return here again and again.
As a father of three children, I often get to see this truth in action. My kids have no idea how much I love them, nor do they know the depth and weight of what I am doing on their behalf or how I am working behind the scenes to provide for and protect them. Just as I lived for a long time having no idea of all that my father was doing for me, so my children go unaware. I don’t see it as my “job” to love my kids (although there are those days when it seems like a task!). Rather, I see it as a challenging and wonderful opportunity to look out for them, to love and delight in them.
Does our heavenly Father “have to do” the same for us—or does he long to?
It was Jesus who said,
“How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?” - Matthew 7:11 NIV
For the record, Christ’s followers are Beloved Sons. Our freedom is won!
We are adopted into the Father’s family, and our name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and now we are to learn to live like it. Through Christ we are sons— sons who have been pulled from dead-end streets and orphanages and given Life: acceptance, worth, and a place to belong.
We have literally and transactionally been brought into the glorious family of God with all its privileges and responsibilities. This has always been the Father’s intention (See Rom. 8, John 3:16, Luke 19:10, Matt. 20:28): Life through Jesus and Life with the Father.
Through the work of Christ in his cross, resurrection, and ascension, we have been ransomed, rescued, and redeemed. Much of the heavy lifting has already been done. Now, most of what the Father is up to in our lives is restoring us through healing, initiation, validation, and training. We “turn in” what isn’t us (the false self) for what is us…our True Self. And in the process we move from disoriented to oriented… from unsettled to settled.
In your time alone with God, ask Him:
Father, what in me (in my heart) is in the way of receiving your Love?
Jesus, thank you for your work on my behalf: the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension. I have underestimated my cost and your payment. I invite you to show me where I have missed your work and my worth.
Holy Spirit, would you settle my heart? Would you teach me how to observe my thoughts and turn in anything and everything speaking that is not from you or of you?
