July 31

“And a voice from heaven said, ’This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased’”   —MATTHEW 3:17

Three things every child needs to hear from their parents: “You are mine, I love you, and I am pleased with you.” When Jesus came out of the water after His baptism, this is precisely what the Father had said to His Son.

This is extremely relevant to us because if Jesus’ baptism is a picture of our union with Him, what is true of Him, becomes true of us. He was made to be sin and in Him we are made the righteousness of God. What does God say to us in our position of being united to Christ? He says, “You are mine. I love you. I am pleased with you.” In Ephesians 1:5, Paul says, “…he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ…” And to the Galatians, Paul writes, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27). 

God has only one begotten Son and by being united with Him, we share in His Sonship. This is true whether male or female. It is about our position before God, which is entirely different from our performance. We tend to think our position is a result of performance, but our performance, whether living rightly or wrongly, does not create our position before God, nor undermine it. It is the reverse; our position in Christ is the source of our performance.

For many people, it is difficult to believe God is pleased with us, but He is pleased for the reason we are united to His Son and clothed in His righteousness. 1 John 4:17 says, “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”  Why are we like Him? Because there was a day when Christ was like us, taking upon Himself all our sin, and paying the penalty on the cross. The consequence of this is that the death and burial leads to a resurrection in which we have new life, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. 

As God was pleased with Jesus, He is pleased with us. Though we may not feel this way, it is a fact we need to believe and trust. It is a gift of God through faith in Him, and we can go into the world to live that relationship of being reconciled to God, in which He says of us, “You are mine. I love you and I am pleased with you.”

PRAYER: Dear Precious Lord, thank You for loving me, and as undeserving as I am, giving me a righteous standing whereby I am yours and You are pleased with me.  

TO REFLECT UPON: Do I often tell my children these three things? Do I ever tell my children these things?