The Fruit of Becoming Beloved
(5 minutes)
Beloved children, our love can't be an abstract theory we only talk about, but a way of life demonstrated through our loving deeds. We know that the truth lives within us because we demonstrate love in action, which will reassure our hearts in his presence. (1 John 3:18-19)
There is a beautiful fruit that is produced in a person when they begin to trust Abba's point of view concerning themselves. Abba's love tenderizes their heart and they begin to lower their guard and lay their weapons down.
As you embrace that Abba is pure light, with no trace of darkness in Him at all, then you stop being concerned with protecting yourself. And not protecting yourself frees you to love other people the way Abba has loved you. As His love begins to nourish your heart, you become more open to giving and receiving love from the people that He has planted in your life. This is what begins to happen when beloved identity goes from being merely words to becoming a way of life.
Listen to John the Beloved's words in 1 John 3:16-17, translated in The Mirror Translation:
Love is known in its other-centeredness; just as Jesus laid down his life for us to free his love within us for others. The indwelling love of God compels one to live sensitively aware of people around us, and not to exclude those in need.
Hear those words again: Jesus laid down his life for us to FREE HIS LOVE WITHIN US for others. As we encounter the goodness of Abba in the secret place of His love, that intimate place that we share together, we will begin to overflow with what we're beholding in Him, and that will eventually begin to splash all over the people we come in contact with on a daily basis. This agape love - this unconditional, self-sacrificing, other-centered love - is meant to be the differentiator in the lives of Kingdom men and women. The thing that sets them apart as being exclusively His, because only He is capable of loving in that way.
Are you seeing this Kingdom fruit being produced in your life? Is the declaration of your beloved identity causing you to love others with the love that has been lavished on you?
I appreciate how John the Beloved approaches this conversation: Beloved children, our love can't be an abstract theory we only talk about. It's his way of saying, "Don't be fooled into believing that a new vocabulary is the pinnacle of this Kingdom transformation." It must go deeper than words. It must affect the way we live life. The Mirror Translation puts it like this: "My darling children, let's not deceive ourselves by paying lip service to love while we can truly live the dynamic of love in our practical daily doing."
Abba, we long for this truth to go so deep that it transforms our heart for the people that you've planted in our lives. It's clear to us now that we know Your heart that You've always wanted a loving family - a house full of beloved sons and daughters who see You and themselves correctly. You are fixing our broken perspective of You and ourselves and others, and it's finally freeing us to give and receive love the way You designed us to. Abba, we lay down the weapons that we've used to protect ourselves. We lower our guards. Give us tender hearts that can connect with others the way You've connected with us. Let the tender affections we've received from You in intimacy, teach us how to love the Kingdom family we're joined to. More than words...more than good ideas, let this love we've found in You become our way of life as we walk with others.
Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him. The one who doesn't love has yet to know God, for God is love. The light of God's love shined within us when he sent his matchless Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins. Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then "loving one another" should be our way of life! (1 John 4:7-11)
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Worship: "Made for More" by Josh Baldwin
Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place
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