Bobby Schuller - You Are Beloved: Living in the Freedom of Gods Grace, Mercy, and Love

CONTENTS

When I discover who I am, Ill be free.

Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

You Are Seen Deeply and Loved

You belong and you are wanted, just as you are and not as you should be. There is no one like you in the whole world. Youre doing better than you think. More people than you think love you. You are a treasure, and you have nothing to prove.

See, what Im discovering is that my deepest need is to know I matter and belong. God made humans this way. But, because of our need to matter and belong, it is so easy to fall into the never-ending pursuit of approval and love through:

what you do

what you have

what people say about you

Every day advertisers and others promise us that with a few tweaks well be more attractive and popular. Our peers imply that when we succeed in our goals and aspirations, our lives will count and be one for the history books. Meanwhile churches and charities make us feel guilty and ask us to do more for them, for our children or spouse, and for the world. All of these things are great, yet every day they seem just a bit out of reach.

Perhaps you feel as though you are being pulled in a thousand directions. You feel like you are sacrificing everything but are completely out of energy and unhappy. You long for the times in your life when you had fewer worries, when you felt less pressure and stress, and you wonder if youll ever get that life back. You daydream about an existence very different from the one you are currently experiencingone that is fun, free, and energized. Maybe you wish you could be a kid again.

At the same time you feel a sense of shame because you didnt do as well as you thought you would. You couldve been a better parent or grandparent. You could have achieved more in your career if youd just tried a little harder. Plus youre getting older and are feeling less wanted. You promise yourself that tomorrow youre going to give it 110 percent but somewhere deep inside feel as if maybe you wont.

Dont beat yourself up, because the nasty little secret is everyone feels this way. From the wealthiest to the poorest, from the oldest to the youngest, we human beings constantly feel a sense of not being enough. We just masquerade it. We show our best to others while hiding the things that make us unworthy of respect and belonging. We publicly display to one another how terrific we are while secretly feeling like were not enough.

As we compare our true, hidden self to others public shiny versions of themselves, we run out of energy trying to keep up with one another. We wake up hoping to outpace our peers while regretting the wasted years we could have spent being happy. The net result is everyone is tired because they are hurrying to be loved. Little do they know, they already are.

You are loved by God. You always have been and you always will be. He was there when you were born, and hell be there to catch your last breath. Your accomplishments dont matter to him as much as your smile. Your treasures only matter to him because they matter to you. Youre his treasure. He also doesnt care about your reputation. He simply longs to be with you. He calls you beloved.

This was made real for me when I became a young father many years ago. I remember one early morning when the sun was still sleeping and I was trying to rock my little four-week-old peanut back to sleep. Looking at her, I thought, Id do anything for you. I was exhausted from not sleeping, yet overwhelmed with joy just to be with her. She hadnt done anything for me. She merely was, and that was all I needed. She was and is a beloved treasure.

The great love I feel for my children is very little compared to the immense love God has for you. He calls you his beloved treasure. Hes your loving Father. He is not angry with you. He is not holding a grudge against you. He simply longs to be with you and bless you. You are his. This is your identity. Discovering it makes all the difference.

There is nothing like living in the identity of the beloved. Being friends with God helps us live every day with full hearts. When we know we are his beloved, we have clear vision, good sleep, big dreams, and peace. Being the beloved gives us the strength to let go of our regrets, self-pity, and bitterness and helps us inherit an inner joy that never goes away.

The ultimate goal of this book is to teach you to have incredible energy by rooting your identity in nothing but the love of God.

You may not know this about yourself, but every part of you is crying out to connect with God and with others. You need to feel the deep, sustaining joy that comes from being seen deeply by the people who love you. Youll never be fulfilled by your trophies, entertainment, fashion, fun, or your dazzling reputation. Youll only connect with others when you are at peace with yourself and with God. Only then can you begin to show others who you truly are and know that you are worthy of respect and belonging.

This is your why. Its the reason you do everything. In a way, its everyones deepest motivator: to get connected with others and with God.

I believe if you stick with me over the chapters in this book, your life will never be the same. Youll begin to see some of the ways your behaviors are coming from a lack of joy rooted in a sense of not being enough. As you begin to believe you truly belong in Gods world, youll develop more energy, clarity of purpose, and vision for your life, and youll cut out a lot of the useless stuff that chokes your soul.

I have developed a creed that has made this change possible for thousands of people around the world. A creed is like a prayer you say to yourself to realign your mind and heart with what really matters. If youre an American, you likely said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school. This patriotic creed is taught to children to help them remember what it means to be an American. In the same way, the Creed of the Beloved will help you train your mind and heart to know what it means to be the beloved of God. Over time the scriptural truths in this creed will give you an incredible sense of energy and power to succeed in every aspect of your life.

Discovering My Personal Why

In the eighties, my grandfather, Robert H. Schuller, was the most-watched religious television personality in the world on the program he started, Hour of Power. Every Sunday millions of people around the world looked forward to watching him preach a powerful word from the Crystal Cathedral about possibility thinking. Many in my generation are unfamiliar with Dr. Schuller, but no doubt he will be remembered as one of the greatest influencers of the Christian church in the twentieth century. If youve ever been to a church calling itself seeker sensitive, you can thank him.

Of course, this meant very little to me as a kid. I simply saw him as my fishing buddy, my chubby grandpa who gave great hugs. This remained mostly true until I was about eighteen years old and was invited to go with him and five hundred members of his viewing audience to Israel.

Shortly after arriving in Jerusalem that first evening, I found myself wandering around the lobby of our hotel. I was looking at their displays of religious artifacts yet couldnt forget I was in an everyday Hyatt. I was feeling antsy and wanting to go see this famous city for the first time when, out of nowhere, a man with a bushy red beard and a big personality said, Are you Robert Schuller?