Pre-reading: 1 & 2 Samuel
Recently, I did a study on the life of David. God said that David was “a man whose heart beats to my heart (Acts 13:22)” and even Jesus, The Messiah, is oftentimes referred as “The Son of David” in the scripture. Long after the death of David, the memory of this charismatic shepherd-king still remained in mind of God and the people of Israel. What so special about David that make him dearly to the heart of God? Is it a coincidence that the name ‘David’ in Hebrew literally means ‘The Beloved’? What had made God fallen in love with David despite his failures and weaknesses?
I finally found a glimpse of answer as I read the second book of Samuel chapter nineteen:
I finally found a glimpse of answer as I read the second book of Samuel chapter nineteen:
But in private Joab rebuked the king: "Now you’ve done it—knocked the wind out of your loyal servants who have just saved your life, to say nothing of the lives of your sons and daughters, wives and concubines. What is this—loving those who hate you and hating those who love you? Your actions give a clear message: officers and soldiers mean nothing to you. You know that if Absalom were alive right now, we’d all be dead—would that make you happy?
So, David loves those who hate him, even to the degree that it seems that he hates those who love him. David has the heart of Abba, loving both good and bad people at the same time. Jesus said of His Abba: “This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. In a word, what I’m saying is, grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” (Matthew 5)
God is love and God loves everybody. He loves both saints and sinners because it is His nature to love. When God ceases to love, it means that God ceases to be Himself. God can’t ‘can’t love’ because He himself is love. The Bible says that Abba loves and gives to everyone, regardless how good and evil they are. God’s love to us is unconditional. He loves us when we keep his word and when we don’t keep his word. God is always consistent in his nature. There is no evil in Abba.
The sad fact is that not everybody wants to accept Abba’s love. They would prefer to make walls around themselves so that they are not loved by the Lamb and Lion of Judah. This is very clear in the story of the prodigal son. The eldest child always lives with his father and tries so hard to please the father, but he never comes to the heartbeat of his father. He is close physically, but emotionally he is more distant to the father than the youngest son. He is the prototype of people who lives a selfish life and refuses to love even his father. His motive is to get rid of the father and get the whole inheritance, but he’s doing it trickily. The younger brother also has the same motive but he is doing it without hypocrisy. He is what he is, a rebellious son. The father can see the beloved in both of his son because he is a loving father, but only one of them can accept the fact that he is the beloved, while the other one complains why he has never been loved.
David can see the beloved in everyone he meets, friends or enemies. He loves them all. But the so-called friend like Joab and his brothers are not actually real friends. They did everything for themselves, covered their motives, and never really listened to what David has said. That’s why David replaced his army commander from Joab to Amasa after the Absalom’s incident. Joab, just like the eldest child in the parable, complained why he has never been loved by David. He refused to be the beloved.
Jesus can also see the beloved inside the prostitutes and the tax collectors. He can even see it inside the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but they refused to be recognized as the beloved. They believe that by their own efforts, they have attained the right standing with God. They reject the idea of Abba’s grace because they knew it will make all their religious activities to be unnoticed. They will be in the same banquet with the people whom they regarded as spiritual nobodies if they accept the invitation from the Son of Man. It is their pride in outward part of the cup that make them unfit for the kingdom of God. The eldest son can never fathom the mystery of Abba’s grace to the prodigal son, whom his father considers as the beloved.
God is love and God loves everybody. He loves both saints and sinners because it is His nature to love. When God ceases to love, it means that God ceases to be Himself. God can’t ‘can’t love’ because He himself is love. The Bible says that Abba loves and gives to everyone, regardless how good and evil they are. God’s love to us is unconditional. He loves us when we keep his word and when we don’t keep his word. God is always consistent in his nature. There is no evil in Abba.
The sad fact is that not everybody wants to accept Abba’s love. They would prefer to make walls around themselves so that they are not loved by the Lamb and Lion of Judah. This is very clear in the story of the prodigal son. The eldest child always lives with his father and tries so hard to please the father, but he never comes to the heartbeat of his father. He is close physically, but emotionally he is more distant to the father than the youngest son. He is the prototype of people who lives a selfish life and refuses to love even his father. His motive is to get rid of the father and get the whole inheritance, but he’s doing it trickily. The younger brother also has the same motive but he is doing it without hypocrisy. He is what he is, a rebellious son. The father can see the beloved in both of his son because he is a loving father, but only one of them can accept the fact that he is the beloved, while the other one complains why he has never been loved.
David can see the beloved in everyone he meets, friends or enemies. He loves them all. But the so-called friend like Joab and his brothers are not actually real friends. They did everything for themselves, covered their motives, and never really listened to what David has said. That’s why David replaced his army commander from Joab to Amasa after the Absalom’s incident. Joab, just like the eldest child in the parable, complained why he has never been loved by David. He refused to be the beloved.
Jesus can also see the beloved inside the prostitutes and the tax collectors. He can even see it inside the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but they refused to be recognized as the beloved. They believe that by their own efforts, they have attained the right standing with God. They reject the idea of Abba’s grace because they knew it will make all their religious activities to be unnoticed. They will be in the same banquet with the people whom they regarded as spiritual nobodies if they accept the invitation from the Son of Man. It is their pride in outward part of the cup that make them unfit for the kingdom of God. The eldest son can never fathom the mystery of Abba’s grace to the prodigal son, whom his father considers as the beloved.
Jesus said that if we loved him, we would keep his word. He was actually saying that a beloved would love to do everything that pleases God, but it didn’t mean that everybody who did the law of God was the beloved. What made the difference was in motives of the heart. The hypocrites do the things of God in order to show off that they are 'somebody', while the sinners do the things of God to show to God their gratitude of being forgiven and recognized as the beloved.
In order to be the beloved, all we have to do is to have faith in God’s love. Paul Tillich said that faith is the courage to accept acceptance. We must let Abba loves us in our brokenness. After we accept our identity as Abba’s beloved, we will naturally show our gratitude by loving God and people around us. When we love God, we will naturally keep his word and live in love. We will be able to see other people as the beloved and started to love our enemies. We become the beloved when ‘be Jesus’ and not ‘play Jesus’ to other people around us.
All scriptures quoted are taken from The Message Holy Bible by Eugene Peterson.In order to be the beloved, all we have to do is to have faith in God’s love. Paul Tillich said that faith is the courage to accept acceptance. We must let Abba loves us in our brokenness. After we accept our identity as Abba’s beloved, we will naturally show our gratitude by loving God and people around us. When we love God, we will naturally keep his word and live in love. We will be able to see other people as the beloved and started to love our enemies. We become the beloved when ‘be Jesus’ and not ‘play Jesus’ to other people around us.
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