Beloved of The Lord

A VOICE CAME FROM HEAVEN, "YOU ARE MY SON WHOM I LOVE; WITH YOU I AM WELL PLEASED”. Luke 3.22.

I am my father’s first-born son and he loved me. My grandfather took special interest in my upbringing. I was named after him, Benjamin. I still remember him showing from the Bible the prophecy about Benjamin, “Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders” (Deut 33.12). I did my best to please my parents and grandparents in response to their love, not that I never did wrong!

I am now a father and grandfather and I love my four children and grandchildren! They love me too. When my children were young and dependant, they did things to please me. Now that they are old enough and mature, they look after themselves. However, it pleases me when they still care to listen to my fatherly counsel, even if they make their own choices!

Reading about the Heavenly Father God’s response to His Son Jesus Christ for His willing obedience, I was greatly thrilled. Jesus argued with John the Baptist to persuade him to baptise Him. He said, “This is the way it has to be now. This is the proper way to do everything that God requires of us”. They both went into the waters of the Jordan and John baptised Jesus.

The Father’s response was immediate. Even as Jesus came out of the water, ‘heaven was opened’ and ‘the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove’. And ‘a voice came from heaven’: ‘You are my Son, whom I love’; ‘with you I am well pleased’. I love it! Our obedience to the Father can be inconvenient, costly and even painful, but what a blessing it brings! Heaven opens! The Holy Spirit comes down and abides in you! God speaks to you! And what Words! “This is my son! I am well pleased with you!"

Friend, in the final analysis, the only way to please your Heavenly Father and to be filled with His Spirit and receive the blessings you and I desperately need is to obey – ‘to do everything that God requires of us’. No amount of service or sacrifice will do! Notice that Jesus hadn’t done anything great thus far – the gospels record nothing that he did before that! Yet the Father said, “I love you!” and called Him “Beloved” and said, “I am well pleased with you!”

Oh! That you and I like Moses may consider God's pleasure in us greater blessing than the riches and joys of the world! May we follow the Lord’s path of perfect obedience to the Father in everything! There is no greater blessing than to be the ‘Beloved of the LORD!’ Dear believer, strive for it through increasing obedience to His Word.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, give me such a craving to do everything You require and to be called ‘Your beloved’ and to hear You say, ‘I am well pleased with you’. Amen.