Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God.
1 John 4:7
You are beloved as a member of the family of God, just as you are.
It was appropriate for God, for whom and through whom everything exists, to use experiences of suffering to make perfect the pioneer of salvation. This salvation belongs to many sons and daughters whom he’s leading to glory. This is because the one who makes people holy and the people who are being made holy all come from one source. That is why Jesus isn’t ashamed to call them brothers and sisters when he says,
I will publicly announce your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you in the middle of the assembly.
At my old middle school where I taught, we had a yearly student talent show assembly. As each act was announced, I always worried! Would things go as rehearsed for students? Likewise, would the student audience be respectful?
From hula to folklorico to tuba to magic tricks to original poetry, the assembly was a window to share in the diverse traditions and incredible gifts of students. I was also awed each year though witnessing my students in the audience genuinely cheering for their classmates in front of the whole school, when too often, we struggled with respect in the classroom. Each year, this assembly was when I’d be most proud of our school — I loved how in those moments my students unashamedly claimed each other as a school family.
Imagine being cheered and encouraged by Jesus. No matter what we’ve done or failed to do, Jesus openly welcomes us as a beloved member of his assembly. Neither magic tricks nor tuba playing is required of us; there’s just an open invitation to be transformed by God’s holiness for our lives.
Loving God, you know my name, just as I am, all the holy and all the unholy parts of me. You welcome me to your embrace and everlasting life. Thank you. Help me to encourage and welcome others today into my living. Amen.
This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.
Dear friends, if God loved us this way, we also ought to love each other.
1 John 4:10-11
As a beloved member of the family of God, choose to be that love to our world today.