Our Father

I am because I am loved

We are invited to become part of God’s family through Jesus, by his spirit and when you pray his spirit helps you pray …and you have access to the father

I am because I am loved

God is begging to come in and show us mercy…

Our hearts are so full of unforgiveness that we find it hard to really believe that we are loved by God. If we really understood the deep, deep never-ending love of the father, if every day we soaked in it, like we soak in a bathtub, we would be transformed by that grace.

Jesus spoke to his father daily, not because he had to, but to top up on this truth that he was loved, I am because I am loved. The first thing the father said as Jesus was baptised in the river and rose out of the water is, “This is my beloved, who I love, listen to him”. That’s the first thing he says before he has been tempted, perhaps that is what sustains him through it- the knowledge of such deep love? Unconditional. Before he has chosen a disciple - the knowledge of such love helps him make good choices. Before he has performed his first miracle, the knowledge of such love makes him fearless and encourages him to do the seemingly impossible things because nothing is impossible for God, no thing! And the only limits come from our limited understanding of such deep love for us. I am because I am loved.

We have to start by knowing we are loved deeply by God. We cannot love others, we cannot even love ourselves, without this knowledge. That is why the first Commandment is, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind’. Once you are steeped in that love, you have the courage to love your Neighbour as yourself. But it has to start with acknowledging we find it hard to speak to God, to find God, to be aware of God, to feel God in our hearts and our every day living. It is this reason that every day we ask forgiveness for, that we feel cut off from the connection, he is still calling us. It is not because he is not waiting for us, but it is rather because we cannot commit ourselves long enough in the day to seek him first. We are distracted by so many things, eBay, IKEA Amazon, books, tweets, videos and others, always more pressing than turning first to God. So we need to turn ourselves back to the source of our divine happiness at the start of the day, which is not some ethereal yoga retreat or mindfulness exercise, but is found in the personhood of Christ the one person through whom we can be connected with God, being both God and Man, who showed us in his life and his works and all his wonderful words, how to live a life that is fully connected to the love, to the source, perfect love Casts out fear. The love that makes us fully alive. I am because I am loved. So getting closer to God and his divine presence is not in the end about emptying ourselves it is about filling ourselves with ‘good things’ starting with the love of the father- our father in heaven. Not some ethereal presence but a tangible force unveiled and embraced and embodied in the life of Christ.

When I was a child I realised in my simplicity that I did not have “perfect” love and I was unsure how I could therefore cast out fear as the verse instructed me to do, “Perfect love casts out fear”. As I grew older, I began to see that it isn’t about me trying harder to be perfect, it is about allowing the perfect love of Christ into my heart more deeply and so being transformed from within, outwards. A light is a good image here because the lightbulb is the source in the centre of a light, if you don’t have the lightbulb the lamp is just a lamp, but once you have the lightbulb it is a light that can enable others to see too.

So let your light shine today that people may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven who loves you more deeply and more fully than an earthly parent could ever do and...

… Be blessed!