Being Certain You Are God’s Beloved
- davidwperk
- May 8
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Thursday, May 8, 2025
The week of the third Sunday of Easter
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s epistle reading:
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
14 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.
(You will find the full text of today’s epistle reading at the end of this reflection.)
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 960)
AM Psalm 37:1-18; PM Psalm 37:19-42
Daniel 5:13-30; 1 John 5:13-20(21); Luke 5:1-11
Today we celebrate the Feast of Julian of Norwich. (See below.)
David's Reflections
As a teenager, I was struggling to believe that God's love could flood my life in response to my faith. How could I know that Jesus was really a part of my life and that I had a relationship with Christ, that I was God’s beloved. Rev. Steve Caskey had me read aloud verse 13 of today's reading, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." Then he took me back to the verse before (from yesterday's reading), which reads, "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."
That day a certainty arose within my soul--I was beloved by God and God was with me and lived in my being. Only once since then has that been shaken. At age nineteen, I was serving as a summer mission assistant in the Philippine Islands. We were in an isolated village without a radio and had no advance knowledge of a typhoon blowing in off the Pacific. My partner, Bill Whittaker, and I awoke to the sound of the roof blowing off and the feel of rain in our faces. (We were sleeping in a house with matted leaf walls and a corrugated fiberglass roof lashed to bamboo poles.) That night was my first brush with death, and I felt fear that I might not be prepared to meet God. During that stormy night, awake on my pew bed in the steel reinforced concrete church building with the typhoon howling, that fear dissipated.
The author of this epistle states his intent, a rarity among the New Testament documents. He wants us to have confidence. He has been attempting to bring us to that point all along and has given us several ways we can know that we abide in Christ to generate that confidence.
I would hope that every person reading these words would come to that place of confidence that you are beloved by God and that you are God’s child. It is not presumption to live with an assurance that God is attempting to give you. Having placed your trust in Jesus Christ and having given your life over to him forms the basis for that confidence. As this text says, "Believe in the name of the son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” What kind of friend or parent would any of us be if we kept our friends or our children in doubt about whether we loved them? What kind of God would function in that way with us?
You can go to the baptismal service in The Book of Common Prayer and reaffirm your response to the questions there (BCP, p. 303). You may well be reaffirming faith that already exists, or you may be affirming that faith for the first time. But, it is on the basis of that faith and God’s loving faithfulness that your confidence rests.
"Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?"
Answer, "I do."
"Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?"
Answer, "I do."
"Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?"
Answer, "I do."
Collect of the Day, the third Sunday of Easter
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 224-225)
Collect for the Weekdays in Easter
Let your people, O Lord, rejoice for ever that they have been renewed in spirit; and let the joy of our adoption as your sons and daughters strengthen the hope of our glorious resurrection in Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Weekday Eucharistic Propers, p 62)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Julian of Norwich, contemplative and anchorite (died ca 1416 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Julian of Norwich
Triune God, Father and Mother to us all, who showed your servant Julian revelations of your nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to seek you above all things, for in giving us yourself you give us all. Amen.
A Collect for Guidance
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)
A Collect for the Presence of Christ
Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen. (BCP, 124)
For Peace
Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 258)
A Collect for Mission
O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 124)
Daily Office Epistle, 1 John 5:13-21
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
14 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. 16If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.
18 We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. 19We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. 20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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