The Life of the Beloved

In my Bible studies recently I have been struck by the idea of identity. How we see ourselves impacts our decisions, actions, and service to God so much that the apostle Paul is constantly reminding his audiences of who they are in Christ. Henri Nouwen once wrote about what it means to be the "beloved" people of God. In his book Life of the Beloved he writes the following:

Becoming the Beloved means letting the truth of our Belovedness become enfleshed in everything we think, say or do. It entails a long and painful process of appropriation or, better, incarnation. As long as "being the Beloved" is little more than a beautiful thought or lofty idea that hangs above my life to keep me from becoming depressed, nothing really changes. What is required is to become the Beloved in the commonplaces of my daily existence and, bit by bit, to close the gap that exists between what I know myself to be and the countless specific realities of everyday life. Becoming the Beloved is pulling the truth revealed to me from above down into the ordinariness of what I am, in fact, thinking of, talking about and doing from hour to hour.

We are the Beloved of God. Let us walk in that reality today.