Do you feel you have it all or do you have a low self esteem and don't feel you have "achieved" much? Do you feel you are (or were) a significant somebody or an insignificant nobody, or going one or the other way between the two? Does your parentage matter?

Maybe that's the wrong question. Instead ask who does God think I am? 

Beloved - something that simply "is", a state of being loved, not something earned. That's how God described Jesus, "my beloved". Writing to early Christians, Paul tells them that they are "God's Beloved" though God's grace - something not deserved but poured out on us anyway.

We are who we are through Christ Jesus. Through our foundation on him. We are wholly and dearly loved because Jesus is wholly and dearly loved. Children of the living God. We are a new creation through Jesus, the old has passed away.

We are beloved. Regardless of whether we think we deserve it or not.

(Based on a sermon by the Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson. You can watch it on YouTube here.)

DG (webmaster)