chosen

Current Christian culture can tempt us into checking spiritual boxes to feel ‘good’. Our lives are to reflect confidence in a perfect, loving Savior.

Have you ever met a new acquaintance at a function, and she didn’t take a breath, talking about herself the entire time you were together? For maybe 30 minutes? Do you remember thinking, “Dear God, please help that poor woman find a friend. I am not it! Help me to never be that self-consumed!!!”

Well, sister…in many ways, we all are.

Cheap Christianity

Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.

Soren Kierkegaard, a Dutch philosopher and theologian, wrote these words between 1843 and 1855, a period when his pen seldom rested. During these years he railed against Christendom, or rather a cultured and respectable Christianity in which one could mentally check off the boxes of prominent religious mores. Thereby satisfying the need to feel spiritually good about oneself. Kierkegaard expounded:

The tragedy of easy Christianity is that existence has ceased to be an adventure and a constant risk in the presence of God but has become a form of morality and a doctrinal system. Its purpose is to simplify the matter of becoming a Christian. This is just paganism, ‘cheap’ Christianity, with neither cost nor pain…It is like war games, in which armies move and there is a great deal of noise, but there is no real risk or pain—

Interestingly, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote something similar in 1937 in The Cost of Discipleship, but he called it cheap grace.

Culture-Current

I wonder how different we are today. While socially we have made a major shift away from “cultured and respectable” Christianity. Now the siren call is to be culture-current. Almost every evangelical church has a band and screens with the music, words and Bible verses displayed. The pastor wears jeans…and please, don’t forget the aromatic coffee served in the lobby! (I love coffee!)

Some teach pleasant Bible thoughts to live by; some preach expository sermons through entire books of the Bible. I have visited both types of churches. Regardless, the majority offer a great children’s ministry or they don’t survive long; youth ministry is a plus, too…

Self-Conviction

I digress.

Are you asking where I am going with this? I’m just following my heart, my own conviction, really. Bear with me…

What do we think about when we think about our spiritual lives? Or our Christian selves?…or do we think about it at all?

What is my life expressing?

Too often, I think, my own life becomes entangled with what my church culture has told me a Christian is supposed to reflect or reveal as much as Jesus taught. Or perhaps it’s just what I have come to believe myself – or a combination of both or all three!

For instance, I’ve been a Christian for most of my life and I believe I can say that I’m a good, moral person, but to whom am I comparing good? Jesus said no one was good except God, (Luke 18:19). Comparing myself to others and finding myself good is not wise, according to Paul, (2 Corinthians 10:12). Yet, how many of us, whether consciously or unconsciously, fall into this trap on a regular basis? I know I do.

Good and Moral?

And what if I am moral? Seriously. Apart from a relationship with Christ, morality, while good for our culture, is conforming to rules of right conduct. Throughout history, there have been many good, moral men who have not been Christian, (think Socrates, Jewish historian Josephus, or someone you know personally).

Is Jesus calling His disciples to be good and moral? A loud chorus quickly agrees that, of course, this isn’t enough! Christians are to be loving, kind, giving – even sacrificial, humble, patient, or…as my granddaughters would say – all the things!

The trouble is, we can’t…we won’t…we aren’t capable; not really, not every moment. Despite our best and most valiant efforts to reflect Christ, we end up expressing whatever dominates our thoughts. For most people, it’s me, myself, and I, (or my kids, my husband, my ministry, my church, my pastor, my weight, my job, my successes, my busy-ness, etc).

While we each desire to reflect the image of God and the Fruit of the Spirit, (Galatians 5:22-23), sadly, too often we instead express – well – US.

Human Praise

Tony Merida, pastor of Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, NC, and speaker for Acts 29 Network stated recently: “When we soak up human praise, we rob others of an encounter with God. We choose to promote our own identity because we don’t want to follow God’s mission for us… Misconstrued identity is the atomic bomb of this generation.”

But why is it the atomic bomb of this generation? Was it not also in Genesis 3 for Adam and Eve or chapter 11 when the people wanted to build a tower to God? Neither narcissism nor distrust in our Father is new.

No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! […] And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:8, 11, NKJV

Reflect as Beloved

I believe much of our constant self-focus has to do with insecurity in our identity as beloved children of the Father. Our ears remain open to the whispers of doubt and lies of the enemy and closed to the truths of our loving Father.

When you lose touch with your chosenness, you expose yourself to the temptation of self-rejection, and that temptation undermines the possibility of ever growing as the Beloved.

-Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved

An intimate knowledge of being chosen and loved brings an unshakable confidence, one which does not need to be fed with narcissism or man’s praise. As the Psalmist declared in Psalm 9:10, when we are intimately acquainted with His name, we will trust Him because we will fully understand that He will not forsake us.

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you…
Isaiah 43:1-4, NKJV

This doesn’t sound like Someone Who is going to abandon me. It sounds like Someone Who will love me until the end of time – and beyond – like Someone who always has my back. It sounds like Someone I want my life to express…and reflect.

I, even I, am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior.
Isaiah 43:11, NKJV

An intimate knowledge of being chosen and loved brings an unshakable confidence. One which does not need to be fed with narcissism. When we are intimately acquainted with His name, we will fully understand God will not forsake us. Click To Tweet

Priscilla Du Preez

The words “chosen” and “beloved” can feel like a foggy memory from a story about someone else we vaguely remember. The Truth is, we are His beloved.

For the past few months, I have been doing a personal 8-week Bible study on Ephesians…I’m in week 3. (Don’t judge me). If you read my last devotional you are aware that I’ve had a few things going on in my life. Some days, finding my way to the study book, itself, has proven a monumental challenge. Believe me, sensing my beloved factor has hardly been on the radar!

“Christian” Mantra

This particular Bible study is written by the English professor, Heather Holleman. She took seven important verbs from the book of Ephesians and showed how they can be transformational in our lives. She used words like included, chosen, seated, renewed.

Well, I can’t just fly through each chapter and expect it to be transformative, can I? Apparently, I didn’t think so, because I parked for weeks in Chapter 2 with chosen. But why? This is elementary school material for Christians, isn’t it?

Perhaps. However, I have found that Christians of all denominational persuasions are very adept at parroting the mantra of “forgiven, chosen, loved,” but secretly wonder what the heck God was thinking when (or if?!) He called them. (You’ve known a few of those folks.)

There are days…dark seasons of disappointment, depression or loss, when I wonder, too. The words chosen and beloved can feel like a foggy memory from a story about someone else I vaguely remember…

Beloved Sweetness

About 30 years ago, I was introduced to my first book by Henri Nouwen. A quote from the book appeared in the newsletter of a Baptist evangelist my husband and I followed. His words so arrested me that I clearly recall where I was standing in our then-kitchen when I read them. They rooted me to the floor as I absorbed them and tasted their sweetness within my spirit.

I have been wondering if there might be one word I would most want you to remember when you finished reading all I wish to say… It is the word “Beloved,” …

Yes, there is that voice, the voice that speaks from above and from within and that whispers softly or declares loudly: “You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests.”

Henri J.M. Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World

Having been raised in a dysfunctional family, and attending a church that talked grace, but walked works, I had never, ever heard this message of being God’s Beloved. I’d like to be able to herald that I jumped immediately on the train of the beloved and sang it loudly from every pulpit of my life. It would be sheer joy to share that I gathered broken women around me, others who had never known the inner warmth of being cherished or chosen, and invited them to journey with me on this captivating road called Beloved…

Gather those who are broken and never knew the warmth of being cherished or chosen, and invite them to journey on the road towards God's beloved children. Click To Tweet

Striking Chords

But alas, I did not. An introvert at heart, I held this treasure closely. With no personal teacher to walk with me, and inner tapes or lies quick to point out my failings, I embarked on a circuitous sojourn. I read many books, studied under several Bible teachers, then went to a Bible college.

Afterward, I stretched outside my own denominational background. It involved enrolling in an MA program that was offered from the local Presbyterian seminary in conjunction with a nearby Catholic College. So, you can imagine how challenging that was for a Southern Baptist girl! The debates between us were wonderful, and many of us remained friends!

However, sadly, my formal, theological education did not teach about being beloved. But, don’t misunderstand, I received the intellectual knowledge that God loved me, John 3:16, etc. Somehow, that didn’t pierce through the self-hate and inner lies that mocked me so often as the passage from Nouwen’s book did…being beloved struck a deeper chord within me.

Beloved is someone who is greatly loved and dear to the heart. This term is used in 90 verses within 29 books of the Bible, especially found in the King James or English Standard Versions. Why, I wonder, aren’t these pointed out more where they concern God’s people?

In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:5-6, ESV

Lies of the World

If we come to Christ and aren’t discipled well, or we are in a church that doesn’t teach much about God’s cleansing grace and unimaginable love, then it’s understandable when we struggle accepting being chosen or beloved. In fact, we continue to live under the power of the lies of this world…which are murderous.

The world tells you many lies about who you are, and you simply have to be realistic enough to remind yourself of this. Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: ‘These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity, and held safe in an everlasting belief.’

Henri J.M. Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World

Overcoming

Don’t believe for a minute this is a new thing; the enemy has been lying to us since the Garden! Charles Spurgeon wrote about it in his devotional, (taken from his sermons,) Morning and Evening, published in 1869. Slog through the old English for a minute; it’s worth it!

Rejoice then, believer, in this: thou art accepted “in the beloved.” Thou lookest within, and thou sayest, “There is nothing acceptable here!” But look at Christ, and see if there is not everything acceptable there. Thy sins trouble thee; but God has cast thy sins behind His back, and thou art accepted in the Righteous One. Thou hast to fight with corruption, and to wrestle with temptation, but thou art already accepted in Him who has overcome the powers of evil. The devil tempts thee; be of good cheer, he cannot destroy thee, for thou art accepted in Him who has broken Satan’s head. Know by full assurance thy glorious standing. Even glorified souls are not more accepted than thou art. They are only accepted in heaven “in the beloved,” and thou art even now accepted in Christ after the same manner.

Imagine, even angels in heaven cannot experience the full acceptance and sense of being cherished as we, God’s Beloved.

You are His Beloved; on you, His favor rests.

Amen.

Reflect: Living A Life That Expresses Confidence in Our Savior