Well pleased!

Luke 3:21-22 says:

"When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, 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."

This event in the life of Jesus has really spoken to me in the last couple of days. First of all, it's just a really cool scene. Crowds of people are flocking to John the Baptist to see what this whole baptism thing is about and are compelled to turn their lives around (or repent) with the anticipation that the Kingdom of God is coming, and it's in the midst of all this that the word in flesh walks into the water.

I wander how many people actually noticed Jesus? We are told John did and he was quick to point out that this was the dude, but what had Jesus actually done? What had he achieved? Why would have anyone noticed him?

It's at this point that the story really speaks to me.

"You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

This is the Father's message to his son. Unconditional love. His love is not based on performance or results or how much love he gets in return, he just loves him because he is his son. As I said, Jesus hadn't 'done anything for God' yet. No one had been healed. No one had heard the good news. No one had been raised from the dead. In fact, the first 30 years of Jesus life were so uneventful, that they have not even been recorded!

So what's my point?

Well, the love that the Father had for the Son is the same love that God has for us today. This is the love that God speaks over me every day, but so often I don't receive it. I can't receive it. I don't deserve it. I'm not holy enough, I don't pray enough, I haven't brought enough people to Christ etc etc. I find so many ways to discredit myself, telling God why he shouldn't love me but he does. My view of love can be so conditional. I beat myself up over what I have and haven't done for God and convince myself that God does the same. Don't get me wrong, praying, reading the bible, telling people about Jesus etc are important as we long to see God's kingdom advance, but this is not the gauge in which God measures his love for us.

I'm learning more and more about God's grace and how I just need to accept it. I don't pretend to understand it, but I'm choosing to believe it.

As Jesus came up out of the water, the Father saw his Son and couldn't hide his love for him. As we get out of bed every morning, God does the same thing!

I pray that your heart would be open to receiving God's love for you, especially when you don't feel like you deserve it!