Agapetos

αγαπητός

Many of you kind of know the inspiration behind my blog title.

I have a tattoo of the word 'beloved' in Greek on my wrist.
This word means a lot to me.

But I wasn't going just for 'beloved' for the blog title.

I wanted equally as much focus on the words 'be' and 'love.'

'BE' has been a theme for the past year of my life. Just be, people, just be.
Stop trying. Stop thinking so hard. Stop trying to do so much. Just be.
And in being--that is enough.
Obviously, it goes much deeper than that, but that's the general idea.

'LOVE' is (should be) the theme for every moment of my life. It was the theme of Jesus' life.
It is God. Love, people, love.
Love. And be loved.
That's all that it comes down to.
And everything, and i repeat, everything, comes down to loving.

And then there's 'beloved.'

And for that part, I wrote about 5 pages worth of thoughts behind why that word means so much to me.
About a year ago, when I got the tattoo, I wrote it all down so I can remember forever and put it as a 'note' on facebook. If you've read that, then you should definitely skip out on the next 2 posts. If you haven't, and you are interested, feel free to read.

I split it into 2 posts, because we all know that long posts never get fully read, unfortunately.

Here we go......

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

The idea behind ‘beloved’ was first made real to me when I was reading the ‘The Four Loves’ by C.S. Lewis. In the last chapter, he was talking about true love here on earth and how it is beautiful and how wonderful it is. And how that beauty and magnificence is only a glimpse of the love that God has for us. We can experience this love right now on earth, but we will experience it completely when we are in heaven with Him. And really, we can not even fathom that completeness. Every type of love that we experience right now is just a taste, a slice, a Sam’s- Club- Sample, if you will.

And then Lewis said the quote that, well you know, just went straight to my heart,

“We are then compelled to try to believe, what we cannot yet feel, that God is our true Beloved.”

And it hit me. God. Is. My. True. Beloved.

And no one on this earth can compare. Yes, I might fall in-love with a wonderful man of God. Yes, I might have the bestest friends in the entire world that make it SO easy to love and be loved. Yes, I might have children that I will pour my heart out to.

But none of this compares, nor will it compare, to the love that God is offering to me. Nothing will completely fulfill me. They might fulfill most of me, but not all.

These loves might be perfect and beautiful. And they are perfect and beautiful because it is God who is providing them, to show me glimpses of His love and to draw me closer to it. But on that day that I am in His presence I will know what complete, true, and perfect love is because I will be consumed with its presence.

He will be speaking affirmation into my soul.

Every form of brokenness, pain, and doubt that I have every felt about myself or within myself because of this broken world we live in, will be eradicated. I definitely feel that peace and wholeness that His love gives me right now, here on this earth. But, since I am surrounded by brokenness every day, every where I am, I can not completely escape its side affects. But there will come a day where I will be completely whole, because my TRUE beloved is consuming me with the presence of His love.

Then, Song of Solomon 6:3 was made more real to me: “I am my beloved’s and he is mine.”

After the revelation that I had above, this verse took on a whole new meaning. Maybe one day I will have a human beloved like Solomon and his bride, but maybe not. The beautiful thing is: I am not waiting for that day because I already know who my TRUE beloved is. And I am His! He has claimed me as His own! And He is mine! He has promised to be inside of me and to be with me always, no matter what I do to hurt Him. And I do many things to hurt him. I cheat on him daily. But He has made a covenant with me, promising that I am His forever. It is a glorious thing not to be waiting anxiously for someone to come along and fulfill you, to love you, to be your wildest dreams. It is glorious to be so in love with the One who created and provides and IS that glimpse of love that everyone else is waiting anxiously for.

The revelation continues on. . . . if you look at the word “beloved,” and break it down, you see:
be loved. BE LOVED. Just stop. And
Be.
Loved.

He already loves you. Just the way that you are. Just by being. He loves you.
He loves you for being.
He SO loved us that, even though we are bad and selfish, even though we have broken his laws, even though we are condemned to the penalty of death, for eternity, He decided to cancel our debt. Not only did he say “you do not have to serve your horrible penalty forever. The penalty that you deserve” but he also said, “I will make you completely righteous.”
RIGHTEOUS: justified, innocent, faultless, guiltless.

“I will make you JUST LIKE MY SON WHO IS GOD. And, I will give up my son, because, I love you SO much. I will make Him suffer. I will be SEPERATED from him. For you. Because you are my beloved. And all you have to do is BE loved. Accept this love. Take it. Be it. Do nothing more. Because if you accept it, all I will see when I see you is my son. I see cleanliness. I see perfect. I see righteousness. And yes, you still deserve something much worse, but because I LOVE you so much, I no longer see that which you deserve. So stop trying to wipe it away yourself. And just be. Be loved by me.”

to be continued.