He Calls You the Beloved
Some days it can be hard to remember that as children of God, our behavior is not what He’s focused on. Listen as President & CEO, Jane Hansen Hoyt urges us to stop self-rejection, and to let the Holy Spirit lead us in the direction we need to go. You are redeemed; you are chosen, “You Are the Beloved.”
Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations.We have been chosen and placed where we are by Jesus. Abiding in Him is all we need to do in order to experience the fulfillment of being His beloved.
- How can we shift our focus to remembering that where we are is exactly where Jesus wants us to be?
- How does our culture surrounding us affect the way we view where we are and where we think we should be?
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Hi. everyone, it's good to greet you today. I think I’ve mentioned to you before that the staff, and along with myself, were reading a book called “The Beloved”. It's an older book, but it's one that I’ve had on my shelf and have read many times. And the whole focus of this book is the journey of a person who wasn't sure of his belovedness. He focused more on his behavior - if he did well, if he thought right, if he spoke right. It was all a human kind trying to perform in a way, he thought, would be pleasing to the Lord. But I love how this book begins to explain that really what we need to understand is we have been chosen. We've been chosen by God. He calls us the beloved. Even as he spoke to Jesus Son and said to Jesus, as he came up out of the water, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”.
I want to say to you today: it's not about your behavior. Let the Holy Spirit within you live and stir and direct, and you'll be surprised at how some things fall away. It's not work on your behalf. They fall away, and other things begin to come to the fore - a hunger for certain kinds of music that that really bless your spirit, or the reading of great books that stir your hunger for God, the reading of the word. It's a new day and he's doing new and greater things in every one of us. Don’t get down on yourself. “Well I should have been doing this for the last five years”. No stop. Accept yourself where you are. No longer will there be self rejection. We’re stopping that behavior pattern that thinking pattern. “I should be this, I should have done that” No, our new beginning line, our starting place is the fact that we have been chosen. Think of it, we've been chosen by Almighty God, and he sent his son Jesus to come to earth, to suffer and die for us so that we might walk in a way that glorifies the Father.T his is all about God gathering for himself, a family. You're part of that family, so today, all self-rejection is gone. Our focus is “I’m redeemed. I’m redeemed day after day after day. God the Father chose me. He sent his son to redeem me. I’m part of the family. He's leading me in the direction I need to go”. Give all glory to God. Bless you today.
