The Resurrection Life is A Beloved Life

For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved!  Ephesians 1:4-6

1. You’ve always been in the Father’s thoughts    “chosen”

He not only chose by Himself, but for Himself.  He wanted you to be with Him!  He chose you to be in a face to face relationship with Him.  He’s always wanted you to be with Him!

His love for you began before time began.  There has never been a time when you were not the object of His love!

2. You’ve always been central to the Father’s plan  “adopted”

God made a plan beforehand to insure we could reach our destination with Him. His plan was devised in love. And His plan insured something much more significant than our arrival. Because in the wisdom of His plan, He devised a way we could always know that we are loved. He devised a way that would absolutely guarantee that we would be holy and blameless before Him. What was that way? What was the genius of His plan?

He devised a way so that we would have absolute certainty that we belonged to Him and would never have to worry again about being loved. And the way He chose to do that: was by deciding right then and there that He was going to adopt us – to make us His very own!

When God adopts us we don’t just get the family name, we don’t just get a new identity, we get the family genes!  When God adopts you in Christ, you become a child of God in every way. You get Christ’s nature – His DNA. When God adopts you He gives us His Spirit. It is now His Spirit dwelling in us that changes everything. We are not simply legally Sons and Daughters, we are now Spiritual Sons and Daughters of God. This is the wonder of God’s grace: This is the miracle of God adopting us. He literally downloads His life into us.

3. You’ve always been the delight of the Father’s heart   “in accordance with His pleasure and will” 

God wanting you to be with Him had its origin in the very heart of God – it was according to His good pleasure to choose you and make you His own. His choosing you is not about you – it’s about Him. His desire to be with you and make you His own arose out of the pleasure of His will.

NOW WHAT?

Embrace the Father’s Heart for you! 

Believe that you are the eternal object of His love. Enjoy in the reality that you are wanted. Stop living in fear. You don’t have to prove anything to God – or to anyone else for that matter. He’s not going to love you any less now than He did when He first thought of you. Embrace the reality that you are holy and blameless in his sight!

Embrace Your New Identity as the Beloved! 

Believe that you are the beloved. God cannot love you more than He does right now, because He loves His Son perfectly – and you are in the Son! So live in this reality! Live like you belong to Him. Live as His beloved. Live in the reality that God loves you, has always loved you, and will never stop loving you!