… and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 ESV)
Beloved
I have quietly argued many years ago with my cousins about which one of us my grandfather loved best. We KNEW he had to love one of us more. We all thought, at various times and during particular events that he loved this one! Or that one! Usually, we all argued that it was we, ourself.
He never said, of course.
But Jesus’ Father did say. He declared here that He loved, loves, and will love Jesus.
My cousins tried many things to gain our grandfather’s love. We did yardwork, we gave gifts, we had sleepovers, we told him jokes, we praised him, we listened to him, we hugged him… we loved HIM.
But none of those things gained our grandfather’s love. He simply loved us. Because he understood love.
When it comes to our Heavenly Father, we often try to gain His approval, favor, and love. But our good deeds, church attendance, Bible memorization, or evangelism efforts do not cause our Father to love us.
He simply loves His children.
But the cool, confidence-building thing is this. God loves us without conditions, but only through Christ Jesus. As the Father said, “this is my beloved Son,” He waves His hand towards us, His other children, Christians, too.
Jesus is the only way to know God’s love.
We can not earn love, but Jesus gives it.