WRITTEN BY TIM LABRECHE
Hurt people hurt people.
We’ve all heard that before. It’s been said when your coworker berated you for a simple mistake. It was said when your teenager called you an inexcusable name simply because they didn’t get what they wanted. It was even said when a fellow believer thought you said something about them behind their back and scolded you in the grocery store parking lot.
The fact is that not one of us can live up to our expectations of each other. Not one of us can live exactly as Christ did. We experience unplanned bouts of anger. Words may come that we don’t expect or necessarily intend to say. When those we love and trust call us hurtful names or say things in malice, they can go deep.
In my freshman year of high school, we were on our way down to Florida with my church youth group for a spring break vacation. We had an entire camp rented out, and I was looking forward to a week of fun and memories with my best friends. For the most part, growing up, I had been a pretty tall and skinny kid. But around this time, I started putting on a little weight. We were goofing off on the bus on our way down, and my shirt had risen a bit, and my tummy was showing. Then, a girl I had looked up to and admired said something that stuck with me for decades. She called me Puddin’, as my belly resembled a bowl of pudding. Once she called me that, others started to as well. Once I got out of high school, that nickname faded away, but that memory from the trip stuck with me, and I carried that name in my heart for a long time. I recently let go of that hurt and renounced its grip on my self-image. I don’t hold anything against my old friend.
Until recently, I accepted and believed that I was Puddin’. What names have you believed about yourself? Perhaps you’ve given yourself the name Eggshell because you don’t know how you’ll react to any particular situation. Maybe it’s Nuclear because you believe your natural tendency is to blow up at the slightest inconvenience. Do you find yourself living in constant fear and state of anxiety? Maybe you call yourself Scaredy Cat.
Did you know that Jesus has a name for us that has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Him? That name is Beloved. Since we know that all scripture is God-breathed and is a love letter to each one of us, we know that when the physical authors of the Bible call us Beloved, we know it comes from the lips and heart of God in Heaven. When He calls us His beloved, He loves us intensely. To call someone beloved is to let them know that they are deeply loved by you. You hold them close to your heart and cherish them deeply.
It’s not a love based on performance, merit, or a checklist. 1 John 4:19 states, “We love Him because He first loved us.” He loved us first. He loved us before we learned all those memory verses in Sunday School. He loved us before we were baptized. He loved us before we won the “of the Year” award. He also loves us despite our sins and shortfalls.
The enemy wants nothing more than for us to believe the disparaging names we, or others, have put on ourselves. He wants us to believe that we are unlovable, unforgivable, or unwanted. When we sit in those lies, we have blinders blocking us from the uncalculatable and unconditional love our Heavenly Father has for us.
So beloved, when we remember and hold on to the truth that God calls us His Beloved, we have an unshakable peace knowing He loves us no matter what labels we, or others, may put on us.
- Do you believe that you’re unlovable or unwanted? Take some time and ask Him for the peace that comes when you know you are loved by Him.
- Ask Him each morning to fill you daily with the unwavering knowledge that you are His Beloved.
