This is why I have ‘Beloved’ tattooed on my arm. Knowing I am His no matter how many times I mess up, gives me the ability to overcome the shame other human beings, or the evil one, like to put on me. It reminds me that I can love my neighbor as myself without judging them because they too, are Beloved.
“Our cosmic significance must be simply asserted and claimed in an act of ontological faith.”
Humbly speaking, this is what makes Jesus so critical to everything... for Life. Our “cosmic significance” is our “mattering”. When the Word, the cause and reason for everything, became one of us, someone we could see and touch and follow, in real time (0ish-33ish AD), and space (Galilee and Judea), our “ontological faith” (the essence or is-ness of everything kind of faith), becomes almost a no-brainer. Of course we’re not talking about a faith which merely ascends to a set of facts, like just checking the box of believing that Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead. We’re talking about an “ontological faith”, a faith which is loyal, in the highest degree possible, to the Way. The Way is Love (same thing). God is Love (again, same thing). So… “When Love comes to town… (Dierks Bentley/B.B. King version). I’m going to ride that train”. Very humbly of course. Because my identity is in Christ.
I would love to get to the point where I could feel like I matter it no matter how I feel others are regarding me. I'm far too dependent on signals from others that I am valuable and I'd love to get away from that.
I would say that that transcendent-ness of unconditional worth and value is, at best, first experienced as a child through the expression of healthy human love through one's parents. An infant doesn't know from transcendent, but it does know it's being fed and held close. Too many studies show how lack of love brings chaos and fractures a child's self-worth, killing even the will to survive.
This is why I have ‘Beloved’ tattooed on my arm. Knowing I am His no matter how many times I mess up, gives me the ability to overcome the shame other human beings, or the evil one, like to put on me. It reminds me that I can love my neighbor as myself without judging them because they too, are Beloved.
“Our cosmic significance must be simply asserted and claimed in an act of ontological faith.”
Humbly speaking, this is what makes Jesus so critical to everything... for Life. Our “cosmic significance” is our “mattering”. When the Word, the cause and reason for everything, became one of us, someone we could see and touch and follow, in real time (0ish-33ish AD), and space (Galilee and Judea), our “ontological faith” (the essence or is-ness of everything kind of faith), becomes almost a no-brainer. Of course we’re not talking about a faith which merely ascends to a set of facts, like just checking the box of believing that Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead. We’re talking about an “ontological faith”, a faith which is loyal, in the highest degree possible, to the Way. The Way is Love (same thing). God is Love (again, same thing). So… “When Love comes to town… (Dierks Bentley/B.B. King version). I’m going to ride that train”. Very humbly of course. Because my identity is in Christ.
I would love to get to the point where I could feel like I matter it no matter how I feel others are regarding me. I'm far too dependent on signals from others that I am valuable and I'd love to get away from that.
I would say that that transcendent-ness of unconditional worth and value is, at best, first experienced as a child through the expression of healthy human love through one's parents. An infant doesn't know from transcendent, but it does know it's being fed and held close. Too many studies show how lack of love brings chaos and fractures a child's self-worth, killing even the will to survive.
Dana