The Exclusive Love of God

Written by Jarred Rushing

(5 minutes)

“Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)

Beloved identity is all about discovering how valuable you are to the Father's heart. 

For the longest time I think we've found it easy to believe that God loves the world, but harder to truly believe that He loves us, specifically and personally. Because of the fingerprints of our past and the influence of religion in our life we have an easier time relating to Him as God, Lord and Master, and we have a harder time relating to Him as Abba, Yahweh and Bridegroom King. Do you know that I actually had a hard time calling Him "Abba" at first? It didn't feel natural to relate to Him in that way. The relationship had always been distant and impersonal so "God" and "Lord" were my standard greetings. But as I started learning how valuable I was to Him, the impersonal words started to feel out of place. The depth of relationship required more intimate language. 

When you are lured into the wilderness, you first have to be convinced of your beloved identity. You have to be convinced that Abba is fascinated and totally enamored by you. The scriptures actually tell us that He is jealous. 

"For Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." (Deuteronomy 4:24)

Do you believe that Yahweh, the Creator of all things, would go out of His way just to lock eyes with you?

Do you believe that as Abba looks across the cosmos His heart is drawn to yours?

Do you believe that what He wants more than anything today is to spend time with you?

Do you believe that you are His favorite?

As you exit the system of religion and are lured into the wilderness, this is the first stop you'll be making on your journey. Because Abba doesn't want you to take one more step without knowing how He feels about you. 

We're going to look at a story about Abba's exclusive love. In John 4, Jesus is garnering the attention of the crowds in Judea. His next move is to leave the crowds, because He has plans to meet with one woman by a well. We're going to look at one line in the beginning of this story.

He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. (John 4:3-4)

I know at first glance it doesn't seem like much, but every word in the scripture is calling us deeper into this love affair with Yahweh. The scripture says "He had to pass through Samaria." Well, that simply isn't true. Like most Jews, He could have taken the long way around Samaria and still ended up in Galilee. You see, Jews hated Samarians. They were seen as unfaithful, compromising, and half-hearted followers of God. They were a stain on the religious culture of the day because they couldn't keep up with the endless demands of the law. Jews would sooner walk 70 miles out of their way than have to engage with a Samaritan. Do you remember the story of the Good Samaritan? Yeah, that story was actually offensive to the Jews because they would never put "good" and "Samaritan" in the same sentence. So Jesus didn't "have to" pass through Samaria out of cultural custom or practice, He had to pass through Samaria out of personal desire to meet with ONE person. 

What others would avoid, Jesus was passionate to encounter. 

Religion taught us that God avoids us. Religion taught us that He would sooner go 70 miles out of His way than to look upon our sinfulness. The very foundation of religion's lie is that we are separated from God, that we need to strive and effort our way back to Him, that we are currently unacceptable but there are 613 laws we can observe to get back on His good side. We've been trained to believe that He's distant. We found some hope when we heard that He lumps us into a whole world that He loves. But what if He cares about us, individually? What if He's not going out of His way to avoid us, but He's going out of His way to encounter us? What if Abba is setting everything up today in order to get as close to you as He possibly can without violating your own will? What if He's trying to put Himself right in your path?

As we walk with Abba today, let's rest in His exclusive love for us. I know it can be uncomfortable to meditate on you being Abba's favorite, but that uncomfortable feeling is not based on the truth, it's based on a lie. It's based on years of religion telling us that humility is thinking less of yourself and that meditating on how valuable you are would produce a prideful heart, and then a fall. That lie has kept us from believing the one thing that would completely change our life, that we've never been more loved than we are right now, in our current condition. No, true humility is not thinking less of yourself. True humility is you coming into agreement with what Abba thinks about you. Knowing that you are valuable will not produce pride, it will produce assurance and confidence in who Abba is and who He's called you to be. Get comfortable with being His favorite. You are valuable, precious, and beautiful beyond compare. 

I invite you to read all of Psalm 139 in The Passion Translation today, but especially these verses:

Every single moment you are thinking of me!
How precious and wonderful to consider
that you cherish me constantly in your every thought!
O God, your desires toward me are more
than the grains of sand on every shore!
When I awake each morning, you're still with me. 
(Psalm 139:17-18)

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Worship: "Pieces" by Amanda Cook

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

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