And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him 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, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17
“To the extent we try to merit the favor of God we will be unable to perceive it. To the extent we attempt to become something we are not, which was the original sin (trying to be like God), we forfeit the gift of whom we most truly are. To the extent we build our lives on any other foundation than the gift of our own belovedness before God, we build on sinking sands.
This is the challenge of grace. It’s really hard, because to accept the gift that comes with baptism means we must accept that we are just like everybody else. We are no better or worse. This is the baptism Jesus entered into, becoming just like us so we could become just like him.”
J.D. Walt in “Something in the Water” Seedbed Daily Text for 10 March 2016.
So here we are, visiting our daughter in sunny San Diego, and I get this profound daily text from J.D. Walt. He’s spot on! (Subscribe to his daily text if you have not done so already). Not only do we fail miserably when we try to be like God, in the words of my brother, J.D., we miss the point altogether. “We forfeit the gift of who we most truly are.”
Accept the gift, “the gift of your own belovedness before God.” Receive the gift of grace, and everything will change, including your generosity. Henceforth it will flow not from you as the source, for there is only one Benefactor God from whom all good things flow (cf. James 1:17). Only when we learn to gratefully receive can we grasp what it means to freely give.
God loves you and me. And we love our children (though they are not kids anymore!) It’s great to hear what Sammy and Sophie are doing, to hear how they are connected to Christ and to others in community, to get reports on school and friends (including Sophie’s sweet young boyfriend, Peter, who, like her, appears to love Jesus deeply), and to know that they are having fun on sinking sand (the beach, that is). What makes us most thankful, though, is that they are building their lives on the solid foundation of the gift of grace! Are you?
How could you show others the gift of their own belovedness before God today?