Agapetos II

Continuing on with those thoughts.....God frequently refers to Jesus as “my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”
And just think about this: once you accept His love and become a child of God, He says that same thing about you.-->“My beloved son/daughter with whom I am well pleased.”

Because remember, we take on Jesus’ clothing of perfectness; his clothing that represents the fact that we are RIGHT/GOOD.
We become just like Him because He is in us.
And we do the things he did.
We love the way he did.
We pray the way he did.
We serve the way he served. (I mean, I guess that is, if we do in fact have Him. If we are truly being filled by His love.)

Just think about what the word ‘beloved’ must mean when God says that about Jesus.
Jesus= part of God; His only son; completely selfless; came to earth not to be served but to serve; the one who restored harmony with God’s creation.

And then, just think about the fact that he refers to YOU as beloved, as well.

αγαπητός means “beloved; dearly loved; worthy of love; only beloved; dear; prized; valued”

Is that not what He sees when he looks at Jesus and at us?
And more importantly, what this really all comes down to is: isn't this definition what WE should think when we look at HIM; our Father; our Creator; our Lover; our Sustainer; our Beauty; our Warrior; our Comfort?

Oh how I need a constant reminder of that! Oh how forgetful we humans are! Oh how adulterous we are! Oh how stupid we are to forget and to fall over and over again!

But, oh, how good He is to be the epitome of patience and to remind us over and over how truly worthy of love he is; how valued and prized he is; how he is our only beloved! And, oh, how I want that constant reminder of who he is minute by minute; how I want that reminder for myself to simply be, and be loved; how I want that reminder to be love to others, because that Love is in me.

When I claimed Jesus’ righteousness, I claimed His love. And what are the only things that he commanded us (I say ‘only’ because everything else falls underneath it)?
He says: Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love others. Let’s not forget that last part. The disciple, John, says “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

And I also need a reminder of that: To αγαπη others. (αγαπη =agape= love)
Meaning, every time I encounter someone I want to treat them as if they are beloved; dearly loved; worthy of love; only beloved; dear; prized; valued.
Because every single person is loved, prized, worthy of love.
It is only this world that tells us that some people are worthy of love and some aren’t.
It is only this world that tells us that sometimes it is okay to treat others as if they are not valued.
Like when they’ve done something bad to us, right? Or when we’re in a bad mood? Or when they are just a mean person? Or when they are annoying?
Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Everything we do and say, at all times, should be out of love for that person.
And I suck at this. Big time. But I want to be better. And I want my life to be devoted to becoming better at this. Which is why I think it is worthy of being on me forever.

The beloved John also says “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

And that is simply what it is ALL about: when I let myself be loved, I can then, be love.

Its just so simple: Love God. Love people.