God called Jesus his Beloved when he rose from the waters of the Jordan after his baptism, and he did it again in Jesus’ transfiguration which we commemorate today.

“And behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5)

This same God, who has adopted us into his family, calls us his beloved too. We address him our Abba Father – a term of deep intimacy – and Jesus, our elder brother.

In Romans 1:7, Paul describes the recipients of his remarkable letter as those “who are loved by God.”

Even in the Old Testament, listen to how God spoke of his people through the prophet Zephaniah:

“The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

Though the word beloved does not explicitly appear in this verse, consider what God does for his children: he rejoices over us, quiets us with his love, and exults over us – not just with singing, but with loud singing. Do you not already sense love overflowing from the heart of the Lover?

Speaking of the Lover, in the Song of Solomon, the lover has often been read allegorically as God, and the beloved as his nation, Israel.

At the same time, the book celebrates the love and intimacy between husband and wife.

Through this imagery, Scripture shows us that God has deep affection and longing for his people.

It is therefore not surprising that in the New Testament, the relationship between Christ and the church is once again likened to that between husband and wife – Christ as the Bridegroom and the church as his bride.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25–27)

I am part of the church. I belong to God’s people. Therefore, I too can say that I am very much loved by him. Though I am far from perfect, I am a work in progress – being sanctified, transformed to become more and more like Christ – until the day I am perfected when I see him face to face.

This is my identity: I am his beloved.

Why, then, should I allow the world to define who I am based on my achievements or the lack of them?

A baker knows the value of the cake he bakes because he knows the ingredients, the time, and the effort required to make it.

In the same way, who better understands my true worth than the One who created me?

And who knows my true worth better than the One who has redeemed me?

“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” (1 Peter 1:18–19, NLT)

We were bought with the blood of Christ. That is no small price. Yet God was willing to pay that cost to rescue us from the condemnation of sin and death, restore the broken image of God in humanity, and draw us once again into the fellowship of the Triune God, that we might experience his eternal love.

Friend, you are God’s beloved – do not let Satan or the world tell you otherwise.

We have heard people say, “To have Jesus is enough.” That’s because it is in Jesus that we have become God’s beloved. Jesus is not a means to an end – though all too often, when we share the gospel, we present him that way.

We say, “If you follow Jesus, your life will be smooth. Your prayers will be answered. You will have health and wealth. Your marriage will be fixed. Your children will be blessed. And, of course, you will go to heaven.”

In doing so, Jesus becomes a means to an end rather than the end himself.

Christian author and pastor Francis Chan, in his book Beloved, reminds us that the pure Gospel is this, “If you follow Jesus, you get Jesus. And when you get him, he is more than enough – no matter your circumstances.”

When we market Jesus as the pathway to obtain blessings, those blessings become the real treasure rather than Jesus himself. When the gifts are elevated above the Giver, we slip into idolatry.

If we know who we are and whose we are, we can walk in this identity with gratitude – in both our living and our calling.

In my third sermon of the year Praying Earnestly, Witnessing Boldly, I shared feedback from someone who had heard the second sermon on prayer.

The person wrote, “I’ve always believed that if a person is in a deep relationship with God – attuned to his will and communing closely with him – then all the actions like evangelism and prayer will flow naturally from that relationship. But if the person is not in a close relationship with God, all that activity is forced and will not bear fruit.”

I wholeheartedly agree. If we are not cultivating a close relationship with God, then all that I have said about prayer and evangelism may feel burdensome, become mere obligation, or even fall on deaf ears.

But when we know our fundamental identity as God’s beloved and are growing in a vibrant relationship with him, these spiritual disciplines begin to flow more naturally.

However, after the third sermon, someone else texted me to share a different perspective – and I love that our worshippers engage so thoughtfully with the preached Word.

She wrote, “If I didn’t interpret wrongly, the idea is that spiritual disciplines flow smoothly when our relationship with God is right. I think differently. Prayer and evangelism build our faith and deepen our relationship with God.

We are imperfect works in progress. We pray and share our faith, however great the struggle, relying on the enabling of the Holy Spirit. The youngest Christian can take baby steps of faith toward maturity. Spiritual disciplines never come easily, but we don’t need to wait for our lives to be completely right with God before we practise them.”

I agree with this sister as well. We do not need to wait until our lives are fully in order before we pray or witness. It is precisely through practising these disciplines that our faith grows and our love for the Lord deepens.

So perhaps both views are right. They reinforce one another. When we know that we are God’s beloved and live out of that identity, prayer and evangelism flow more naturally. And when we struggle, yet persevere in prayer and witness, these practices build our faith and reinforce the very identity we already possess – we are, and always will be, God’s beloved.