BELOVED

Beloved. The word itself hides within it the definition: Be loved. But a lifetime of hurt and disappointment, sometimes from the people who were supposed to show you the most love, can make you wonder whether this name is true for you.

The power that brought the swirling stars, the dazzling snow, the summer sunrises, and the entire cosmos into existence; the power that put on flesh, bore a cross, and conquered death and evil—that same power breathed a name from the breadth of his unending love for you. It is your first name and your truest name: Beloved.

We can live our lives striving and working for this name, hoping that tipping the scales by doing good or proving our worth will make us loved once and for all. Or we can look at all the ways we have fallen short and believe that this is a name we can never claim as ours.

Yet whether we live in striving or in shame, the name Beloved is always ours. God’s love for us is unaffected by our overcompensation or our underperformance. His love is ours. Our name is Beloved.

God’s great love for you simply and profoundly is because God is, simply and profoundly, love. God loves you and speaks goodness and delight over you, but not because you have earned it or achieved it. Because you exist, you are worthy of love.

Beloved is the name from which all others flow. Knowing and understanding the love God has for you—yes, you, with all your sins and scars and idiosyncrasies—has the power to change your life. Learning to internalize this name and receive it as yours is how you can move from striving or hiding and into the loving arms of the Father.

Ask

• Why is the name Beloved so foundational? How can believing the truth of it affect how you move and operate in the world?
• What is one way you could live Beloved right now?

Pray

Lord, I tend to strive to earn your love or to hide in shame over my past brokenness. Please teach me to live Beloved. At the core of who I am, let me rest in your love, knowing my acceptance is not by my doing but by yours alone. In your name I pray, amen.