Beloved Children of God

This last week in our church, I had the honor to celebrate the baptism of two adults, as we welcomed them and three other adults as new professing members.   I told each of them, "Always remember that you are a beloved child of God."  That identity is important to who we all are, and what is expected of us.

According to Luke, as Jesus rose up out of the waters after his own baptism, he heard a voice from heaven confirming that he was "my son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased."  Christ's heavenly sense of assurance of who he was made it possible to overcome all human temptations, and to endure all human rejection and suffering.  Remembering his identity, he could be the very personification of moral strength, in the midst of whatever happened.

In our own Twenty-first Century lives, our identity as part of Christ's body the church is something we get from God, not something we invent or earn.  And remembering who we are--and whose we are--makes it possible for us to rise above our temptations and weaknesses.  It makes us capable of doing great things, in spite of our limitations.  When we forget who we are, or shove our identity aside, we become vulnerable, obsessive, selfish, and easily intimidated.  The good news is that the assurance, the moral strength, the resilience, and the confidence are always right there, easily within reach, waiting to be claimed again.  Let's remember who we are.