The One That You Love

For a couple days I’ve had a line from Air Supply on my mind: “Here I am, the one that you love, asking for another day. Understand, the one that you love, loves you in so many ways.” I know some people take issue with the “love song” perspective of God, but as I was humming to myself it struck me that God does sometimes say things like that. “Here I am. Are you going to give Me this day? Do you understand how much I love you?”

God can remind us of truth in unexpected ways, including love songs. Mark Buchanan wrote in The Rest of God, “God is always speaking. ‘There is no speech or language / where [his] voice is not heard’ (Ps. 19:3). But we’re not always listening. We don’t make the effort and so fail to go boldly into his throne room to receive what we need: a word that can pierce, and cut, and heal… Are you listening?”

We all need reminders of God’s love. Jesus told His disciples “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love” (John 15:9). The Apostle John referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” We don’t know what it was about their interactions that made John say that, nor do we know what the other disciples thought about it when they read what he’d written.

In Christ, all of us can know we are His beloved children. “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). But I think, if we’re honest, most of us have a hard time remembering “I am the one that He loves.” We know that God loves all the people He has created, and He has a special love for all who belong to Him through Jesus Christ. But it’s harder to grasp that God loves me with all my sins and failures and wanderings and unbelief. We sing “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so,” but we may struggle to comprehend His love.

The Apostle Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus “that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17b-19). Paul wasn’t one to waste words, so it seems likely that the Ephesians needed that prayer, and we do too. There are aspects of God’s love that we’ll only understand in eternity.

My prayer today is, “Here I am, the one that You love, asking for another day in Your presence. I don’t love You as I should, but I want to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Help me to understand that You love me in ways I can’t yet begin to comprehend.”

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8a).

© 2020 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

No Other

“He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and He in whom I take refuge…” (Psalm 144:2 ESV).

Lord, I confess that I often forget that You are my steadfast love.

No human can give the kind of love I want and need.

No one else is always available.

No one else knows my thoughts before I think them

And my words before I speak them.

No one else always has my best interests at heart.

No one else is perfectly wise in heart and mighty in strength.

No one else can work all things for my eternal good.

No one else collects all my tears in a bottle

And knows the reason for each one.

No one else always cares for my soul.

No one else sticks closer than a brother.

No one else fulfills every promise.

No one else speaks words of comfort to my soul

And gives me songs in the night.

No one else has engraved me on the palms of his hands.

No one else can guide me with perfect wisdom.

No one else is my rock and my salvation.

No one else will carry my close to his heart

            And gently lead me to green pastures and still waters.

Lord, forgive me for expecting people to be and do what only You can.

“Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39).

© 2020 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

A Child of the King

In the children’s story Sara Crewe by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the young Sara lives in a boarding school and is suddenly orphaned. The headmistress begins to treat her as a slave. But Sara has a way of handling the abuse by imagining she is a princess. She tells herself:

“You don’t know that you are saying these things to a princess, and that if I chose I could wave my hand and order you to execution. I only spare you because I am a princess, and you are a poor, stupid, old, vulgar thing, and don’t know any better… I am a princess in rags and tatters, but I am a princess, inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth-of-gold; it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.”

As I was reflecting on the story and thinking maybe I need to try that tactic sometime, it hit me that I don’t have to imagine it—it’s already true. I am a child of the King of kings. I’ve been adopted into the royal family.

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:15-17a ESV).

“He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will” (Ephesians 1:5).

We all need to remember who we are. Though we probably won’t say it out loud:

• When people are abusive, “I’m a child of the King.”
• When someone says something inconsiderate, “I belong to God.”
• When the world mocks and condemns my faith, “I’m part of the family of God.”
• When suffering seems unending, “I’m loved with an everlasting love.”
• When I mess up and start condemning myself, “I have the righteousness of Christ.”
• When fellow Christians say or do aggravating things, “He or she is my brother or sister in Christ.”

I particularly like the reminder that it would be easy to be a prince or princess if everyone could see that’s what we are, but it is a challenge when we outwardly look the same as any other person. We are sanctified and matured by the process of clinging to the truth of who God says we are regardless of what the world tells us. It is a triumph of grace when we can live out of our new identity even when others can’t understand it.

I can’t end without a quote from C. S. Lewis:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors” (The Weight of Glory).

We may not look or feel like princes and princesses right now, but if we know God as our Father that is our true identity.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:a).

© 2020 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Our Father

A couple verses of Scripture caught my attention while reading recently. In John 19:7, the Jews tell Pilate, “We have a law, and according to that law He [Jesus] ought to die because He has made Himself the Son of God” (ESV). Earlier John had explained, “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). The Jews found this to be both outrageous and blasphemous.

But notice what happens after the resurrection—Jesus says to Mary, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God” (John 20:17). Jesus isn’t just claiming God as His own Father, He is also naming the disciples as His brothers and God as their Father as well! That brings to mind the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9). The Pharisees would have been appalled.

The Apostle Paul continued to break the rules throughout his letters.

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God… you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…” (Romans 8:14-17, compare Galatians 4:4-7).

It’s a bit mind-boggling to consider that not only are we brothers and sisters with all believers around the world today, but also with the Apostle Paul, John, Peter, and the other disciples. And on top of that, we are siblings with Jesus. This is one area where the Catholic Church has made a mistake. They’ve encouraged praying to the apostles and “saints” as if somehow those people have greater access to God than the rest of us. Jesus, along with the New Testament writers, made it clear that our ideas of hierarchy and prestige are completely backwards. “Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10:31). “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him?” (James 2:5).

Tim Keller writes:

“To be adopted means that now God loves us as if we had done all Jesus had done… so we can run to our Father without fear. We have the most intimate and unbreakable relationship possible with the God of the universe. To be a child of God means access. We know God is attentively listening to us and watching us” (Prayer:Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, 69-70).

We can “approach the throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4:16 NIV) without relying on any intermediary. We don’t have to make a formal petition and wait for the Judge to hear our case. We can simply run to Him as a child runs to his father’s open arms. Although earthly fathers fail us, our heavenly Father waits patiently, loves lavishly, and responds perfectly no matter what we may say or do.

“Jesus paid the price so God could be our father… This new relationship with God is what you need if you have a bad family background. This is what you need if you feel like a failure, if you feel lonely, or if you are sinking further into despair. Because of the infinite price paid by your brother, Jesus, God your father will hold you up” (Keller, 80).

Daughters and Sons

Something I read recently pointed out some details I hadn’t noticed before in Mark 5:21-43. That’s one of those passages that becomes so familiar that you don’t read it closely. One of the synagogue rulers, Jairus, comes to Jesus desperate for his daughter to be healed. While Jesus is on the way, He is waylaid by a woman touching His robe to be healed of her disease. There are some interesting parallels and contrasts between the two.

• The girl is 12 years old; the woman has been suffering for 12 years.
• Jairus comes boldly on behalf of his daughter; the woman slips up, hoping to be unnoticed.
• Both are desperate cases that only Jesus can cure.
• Both are beloved daughters of the Heavenly Father. 

In both cases, Jesus responds immediately out of compassion. The only thing He could have done more quickly was to have healed Jairus’s daughter from afar (as He did for the centurion in Matthew 8). In the version recorded in Matthew 9, the daughter had already died before Jairus came to Jesus.

We can tend to forget sometimes that God is a God of compassion. Jesus reflected that as He had compassion on individuals as well as crowds and provided for their needs. None of them were an interruption to His ministry, they were His ministry. When He began His ministry, He read from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19 ESV).

Of course, those who encountered Jesus noticed primarily His immediate provision of their felt needs for healing or food. Fewer realized the eternal significance of what He was doing to set them free. We tend to have the same short-sightedness. Our temporal needs usually take more of our attention than our eternal needs, but that’s no surprise to God. He expects us to come to Him with whatever concerns us.

It’s noteworthy that every time Jesus calls someone son or daughter it’s when He has healed them in some way. And it some cases, such as Mark 2:5, Jesus also points out that their sins are forgiven. The New Testament writers repeatedly remind us that in Christ we are children of God (Romans 8:14-15, 2 Corinthians 6:18, Galatians 3:26-4:6, Ephesians 5:1, 1 John 3:1-2, etc.). And isn’t that really the point of evangelism and discipleship—that we would know that we have been adopted and learn to live in the love of God? It’s not just about being saved from the consequences of sin and granted eternal life, but that we will be able to live in relationship with our true Father now and forever.

I’ll admit I often get distracted and frustrated with trying to find meaning and purpose in various situations and activities. Lately God seems to be telling me, “Don’t worry about that. I’ve got that covered. Just remember that you’re my daughter and I love you. Be still and know that I am God.” Sometimes that’s all we need to know.

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” –Ephesians 5:1-2