Featured Scripture Reference: Romans 14:23
“Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”
Sin’s Insidious Nature
The elemental interpretation of the reality of sin within our fragile human lives is how we innately blunder hitting the high moral impression of righteousness required by a holy God. On a juvenile level, the majority of us know and are oftentimes negatively impacted by sins/disobedience of others that are seen as visible acts of assaults directed toward our souls.
However, this blog post desire to expose a deeper, hidden meaning and condition of the deadly impact that sin has upon the soul’s condition. Without divine spiritual enlightenment, we all are physically alive yet we are walking corpses as if we are already in a tomb.
Sin’s most insidious nature is to enable us to abandon our spiritual identity, our faithfulness in absolute truth, and all of the life-giving benefits that God has already granted His Beloved children. Sin’s power in our lives is to captivate us into believing falsehoods that improperly indoctrinate us to possess negative feelings of unworthiness, self-rejection, guilt, and shame.
Self-rejection, self-hate, and shame are fatal enemies of healthy spiritual formation which leads to maturity in the things of God and His Kingdom. These and other destructive emotions contradict God’s initial divine design, calling, and purpose for each human being. For all are His Beloved, created in His image and likeness.
The finished works of Christ on behalf of all of humanity are the antidote to our lostness which leads to soul crisis and ultimate doom. The deep, heart-felt acceptance of God’s plan of soul salvation which centers on abiding in Christ is the start toward regaining our identity and purpose in this life, and the eternal life to come.
Spiritual regeneration, prayer, the Living Word of God, Godly grace, and His providential care throughout our lives are the heavenly remedy for our inner and eternal battle with evil and unrighteousness. A very healthy soul is effectively aware that evil is real and all of its dark forces assault both sinners and saints alike.
As He says also in Hosea,
“I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’
And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’”
Romans 9:25
Various Appearances of the Beloved of God
- “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” Matthew 17:5. Here we can learn about the loving inner relationship shared by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God’s use of the word beloved, echoes this in John 10:17, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again.”
- Next, throughout the Apostolic Writings, the word beloved addressed the recipients of the letters throughout the early formation of the communities of saints. In the inspired Writings, beloved means “friends dearly loved by God, who are in Christ and therefore highly valued.”
- Messiah is the One whom God loves, thus Beloved is also used as a title for Christ. Paul communicates how believers are the beneficiaries of God’s glorious grace, which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:6
- Lastly, all those adopted into God’s family through faith in the finished work of Christ are the beloved of the Father. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.” 1 John 3:1
Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
James 2:5
On-going Essentials Associated With Being God’s Beloved.
Becoming a beloved of God is an act of God supernaturally. None of us can earn it, nor prove that we even deserve this high calling. The power of the Holy Spirit within our regeneration process will grant each of us impeccable self-awareness of our renewed spiritual identity which is in Christ. Spiritual maturity will increase by each of us having spiritual mastery of these basic yet essential spiritual disciplines: Gleaned from “Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth,” Richard J. Foster
- Prayer, fasting, Biblical study, meditation
- Living a simple/humble lifestyle, solitude, submission, and serving others
- Daily practice of repentance, worship, and fellowship with the community of the beloved of God.
“To be chosen as the Beloved of God is something radically different. Instead of excluding others, it includes others. Instead of rejecting others as less valuable, it accepts others in their uniqueness. It is not competitive, but a compassionate choice.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen
Grace and Peace
Brother Alonzo