I wonder if anyone would actually join a church called, "The Fellowship of Screw-Ups."

Or would they join a church called, "The Beloved Family?"

What if they were all the same people – folks who have messed everything up badly and yet, who had discovered how precious they really were to their Papa?

And what if they had to keep reminding themselves and being reminded of this reality?

To be accepted in the Beloved is your destiny.

It is the intended outcome of your life. 

You can refuse it, but it is set before you as the destination for which you have been chosen.

^"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."

– Ephesians 6:3-6 (NKJV)

The blessings of Christ for us originate in heavenly places.

The choice of us to be included originates in the heart of God. It is the same God who made you and did so very well.

It is the same God who knows you, even with all your flaws. It is that God who gave you the original freedom to mess everything up and to walk away from His own purpose.

It is all very original – from the foundation of the world – always part of the plan.

When we resisted the call, the original call, we severed and we became aware of our own naked need. We saw only a condemning harsh God who evoked terror in our hearts. And though it hinted at a legitimate fear that is the beginning of wisdom, we distorted even that emotion. We clothed ourselves in fig leaves and started hiding in the bushes.

Hiding from God.

Hiding from ourselves.

Living in denial.

What does not make sense to us at all is the label we are called to wear. We cannot conceive of the way God sees us through grace as holy …. as without blame … as accepted in the Beloved.

God incarnates God in flesh of all things.

It is the fleshy heart of humanity that has so dramatically missed every mark and distorted the destiny for which it was intended.

We have not been disowned by God. We have disowned our inheritance. We have rejected our patronage. We have rejected our place as sons and daughters. We have devalued our own lives and destinies. 

We have hung a label on our lives: 

"Royal Screw-up."

So, God fleshes Himself out and shows Himself as a Son so that we can know Him as a Papa.

God who has sought to reveal Himself by His character traits (God Almighty, God Who Saves, God Who Heals, Unspeakable God Who IS) now sends One who says, "Let's call Him 'Papa.'"

"He's my Papa and He wants to be your Papa."

But I am not worthy. I am the screw-up. I am the one who wanders. I am the rebel. I am the hot mess of a man or a woman.

"No," He says, "Here is who you REALLY are. Here is your true destiny. Here is what brings God good pleasure and glory: You being included."

Included?

Yes. Accepted in the Beloved.

You see, the only way for us to see what it means to be Beloved is for an unblemished One to show us what it means to fully accept the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased."

That's Him," we say, "not me. I am on the outside. I disowned that inheritance. I blew it big time."

Adoption.

If you can't come as you are, try this on: a willful act of a parent who chooses a child and commits to making that child an equal heir in the family. We are welcomed into the family, into the Beloved through the "begotten Son."

Accepted in the Beloved.

Whatever is costs is what He was willing to pay and He paid it.

That is the very thing for which you have been destined — and since it has always been that way, it is PRE-destined. It is not about some not being chosen. It is about you being chosen, adopted, accepted, and welcomed.

When I adopted my sons, we had a ceremony at home. We all signed the papers I had drawn up. It was a covenant. Then we did the legal stuff and we went into a judge's chambers. The judge asked my boys if they wanted to be part of our family. They said "yes."

We had already said "yes," having initiated the process.

We walked out of those chambers as one family. 

We had all said, "yes."

You are accepted in the Beloved as beloved of God.

What will you say when asked if you want to be part of that?