Beloved

One Word can capture me and I can sit and dwell on it for a long time. Right now God has me dwelling on "Beloved."  When I understand how beloved I am to God it radically changes my response and causes me to be willing to change in the moment. It also reminds me that God sees you as beloved, too. So, I am on a search.

This morning in my journey, I sat on one verse instead of my normal routine.

Dueteronomy 33:12
"Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests on His shoulders."

I immediately imagine two things. A shepherd with a sheep on his shoulders and a child riding piggy back on his father's shoulders.

A sense of tenderness and intimacy covers both images. I see care filled with touch and a soothing tone that comforts as well as delights.

In the sheep image, I see rest, healing, safety, and restoration. I see respair... rest and repair.

In the child image, I see playfulness, carefree, delight, and contentment.  It is luxurious and free.

Truly, all of these are supported in Scritpure by other texts.

Our God, The Creator of all things, delights to dwell with us. He is present. He is intimate. He comes to us and yes, He will carry us. Why?  Because He is a giving and generous God.

Yes, sometimes, like with the sheep, His carrying might come in the form if a discipline, but note, it is while resting on His shoulders being carried through the process.

Like a child, we are reminded His rest is luxurious and playful. It is not filled with works that weigh us down. It is done while He carries us laughing and bouncing with us on the journey.

My morning dwelling with my Beloved has brought me such joy. How about you?

BE LOVED, beloved of God! 

Why Peter, James and John?

I was asked this week, "Why did Jesus choose Peter,  James, and John?"

That is a really good question. Why?

There are so many layers to the possibilities.

First, we can truly only deeply invest in a select few. Not everyone can be with us in our highest high and our lowest low. These three were the ones. They were allowed into the Transfiguration and the Garden of Gethsemene. 

Jesus modeled for us a simple pattern of investment. One beloved, a chosen select three to deeply invest in, and twelve to train and equip.

Even though John is called the beloved one, Peter is the one we see Jesus investing in the most of the three. Why? Peter is the one Jesus said, "He was giving the keys to the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 16:19). So, it makes since that Jesus would work deeply in Peter's character, knowledge, counsel, and understanding. The church would be born through his testimony.

But, what of the Sons of Thunder? James and John were known for being hot heads. It would be easy to say it was because Jesus needed to tame these two, but here is the reality.

James was the first Apostle to be martyred. His hot headedness was passion without Holy direction. Could it be that Jesus knew his passion would make him an important witness for God's kingdom? James needed to be present because James was going to give his head on the chopping block of Herod Agrippa. James needed to be fearless as he bore witness. Was Jesus giving him the gift of presence in the highs and lows because He knew it would give the fuel to James' passionate nature to speak boldly even in the face of death?

Now, John, he was the one who called himself the beloved disciple. He was the last of the Apostles to die. Is it possible that he felt beloved because he was the one Jesus knew would suffer through the pain of seeing and experiencing the loss of all his brothers suffering through horrific deaths for simply speaking the truth about Jesus? I wonder how many times John experienced the fright of flight before he penned Revelation.

Yeah, good question!

It makes me also wonder, What about you?  What about me? What is it that Jesus is allowing us to see, experience, or know?  How might these things be unfolding because He knows what we must do for God's kingdom to grow through our testimony? 

I dare say that like Peter, James, and John, we will not know the impact of our testimony today in the economy of the Ancient of Days.

Shalom, Shalom y'all!