To live your life everyday convinced that God delights in you, and to feel cherished by Him, is the most remarkable life a human can experience. It is truly at the root of a life that’s more abundant that Jesus promised us. Jesus is the truth, and He came as the light of life. To live convinced that you are cherished by God is to live in the truth. Anything other than that isn’t real life, from God’s perspective. To live in guilt, shame, condemnation, and rejection is a result of the fall. It’s darkness, and Jesus came to deliver us from darkness. As Christians it’s not that we always get it right and therefore deserve His acceptance, and affection, it’s that He set His love on us, and it has nothing do with our performance. Even in those times when He’s not pleased with our behavior, His affection for us never changes. His great love for us doesn’t revolve around our maturity or our victories. His Banner over us is love, and nothing can change that. A banner over a person or a people clearly establishes who they are. It declares their identity. At the heart of it all, our true identity is Beloved of God. That’s who we are 24/7, in victory or defeat, in maturity or weakness. If you could really believe that, dare to let yourself embrace that as the primary truth about you, then what you passionately believe will become what you deeply feel, and that is liberated living.
