When everyone was being baptized, Jesus also was baptized. While he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit came down on him in bodily form like a dove. And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness. ” ~Luke 3:21-22 (CEB)
“To hear God call our name awes us. To consider facing such an experience without trembling knees is unthinkable. To stand before the One, the author of all that exists, stretches our imagination to the breaking point. Then to have that One speak our name transforms and changes life. Jesus, too, heard the voice from heaven saying what he already knew. He was God’s beloved. What a wonderful message! To be the beloved child of the Creator. To know one is loved like that transforms and prepares us for anything. Perhaps that is why the Gospels tell us that Jesus left the baptismal service and God’s affirming voice to go into the desert to be tempted by Satan. Jesus prevailed because he remembered the voice; he remembered who he was and who was with him.
The biblical record clearly affirms the fact that God knows us and calls us by name as well. We are not strangers of aliens to God. We are each and all God’s beloved. We have as our lover the Creator and Master of all that exists. The One who calls us beloved is also the one who knows us so intimately and well that even the number of hairs on our head is known.
To remember who creates us and recreates, who calls us again and again, who knows us completely, and who loves us unconditionally is to be prepared, as Jesus was, for all that is to come. We need have no fear of today or anxiety about tomorrow. We belong to God who claims us as beloved children and holds us close in the embrace of strength and love. Listen and remember today that God calls your name and be transformed and sustained in all that awaits you.” ~From A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God by Ruben P. Job
Help me to hold these truths in my heart O Lord, that I have no need to fear the day or be anxious for the morrow. You have called me by name and I am Yours. My joy is in Your salvation. Amen.
Pieces of the Puzzle 