"As indeed he says in Hosea,
'Those who were not my people
I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved
I will call 'beloved' "
Romans 9:25 (ESV)
Culture Beloved is based on this verse, which really stuck out to me as I was reading the book "Spoken For: Embracing Who You are and Whose You Are" by Robin Jones Gunn and Alyssa Joy Bethke (a really GOOD book !) . In chapter seven the verse is listed to show an example of a term endearment God uses to calls His children. Alyssa mentions the verse again later in the chapter. It's been with me ever since, because like the authors of this book, I just am in Love with Love and what greater Love story is there than the Love story the Heavenly Father has for you ?
When first reading the verse I thought it was God speaking to Hosea (because of the first line) but after further study I found that it was actually Hosea speaking about the Israelites (God's chosen people) after their rejection of God, (See Hosea chapter 2, specifically 2:23) but the point remains. God; the all knowing, all powerful, the full of Mercy and Grace God, sent His son to die for us to make us "His people", "His Beloved" even though we deserve less than the least of the least for the rotten conditions of our sinful hearts. And yet, He gave us the chance to be welcomed in to His family. He gave us grace when we deserved punishment, mercy when we deserved judgment and love to the unlovable. He gave us Everything. You see, God's love is the forever kind of love, which He extends to us all. The Jew and the Gentile, the believer and the non-believer, the i phone and the android user.
Good old Dictionary.com defines Culture like this: "the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge, which constitute the shared bases of social action"
As believers in Jesus Christ, we share common ideas, belief, similar values and knowledge, all of which leads us in our day to day lives. Beloved is defined as: greatly loved; dear to the heart... Think about that, you are greatly loved and dear to the heart of our God!
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:5-7)
As believers we are a Culture of God's Beloved People. As believers we are set apart and free to join this new culture of love, "for it is by grace that we have been saved through faith..." (Ephesians 2:8). How AMAZING, right!?
My hope is that Culture Beloved will be a unifying place, a movement and an identity for all people who desire to Know and grow (with me) in the Love of Jesus.
If you need a place to belong, feel support, be loved or just fill some time, then this is the Blog for you.
Grab a seat and stay a while!
~Culture Beloved
'Those who were not my people
I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved
I will call 'beloved' "
Romans 9:25 (ESV)
Culture Beloved is based on this verse, which really stuck out to me as I was reading the book "Spoken For: Embracing Who You are and Whose You Are" by Robin Jones Gunn and Alyssa Joy Bethke (a really GOOD book !) . In chapter seven the verse is listed to show an example of a term endearment God uses to calls His children. Alyssa mentions the verse again later in the chapter. It's been with me ever since, because like the authors of this book, I just am in Love with Love and what greater Love story is there than the Love story the Heavenly Father has for you ?
When first reading the verse I thought it was God speaking to Hosea (because of the first line) but after further study I found that it was actually Hosea speaking about the Israelites (God's chosen people) after their rejection of God, (See Hosea chapter 2, specifically 2:23) but the point remains. God; the all knowing, all powerful, the full of Mercy and Grace God, sent His son to die for us to make us "His people", "His Beloved" even though we deserve less than the least of the least for the rotten conditions of our sinful hearts. And yet, He gave us the chance to be welcomed in to His family. He gave us grace when we deserved punishment, mercy when we deserved judgment and love to the unlovable. He gave us Everything. You see, God's love is the forever kind of love, which He extends to us all. The Jew and the Gentile, the believer and the non-believer, the i phone and the android user.
Good old Dictionary.com defines Culture like this: "the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge, which constitute the shared bases of social action"
As believers in Jesus Christ, we share common ideas, belief, similar values and knowledge, all of which leads us in our day to day lives. Beloved is defined as: greatly loved; dear to the heart... Think about that, you are greatly loved and dear to the heart of our God!
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:5-7)
As believers we are a Culture of God's Beloved People. As believers we are set apart and free to join this new culture of love, "for it is by grace that we have been saved through faith..." (Ephesians 2:8). How AMAZING, right!?
My hope is that Culture Beloved will be a unifying place, a movement and an identity for all people who desire to Know and grow (with me) in the Love of Jesus.
If you need a place to belong, feel support, be loved or just fill some time, then this is the Blog for you.
Grab a seat and stay a while!
~Culture Beloved