Children... of the Living God

"I ask for the desire to pray and meditate regularly.  I ask for patience, gentleness, empathy, compassion and tolerance.  I ask to abstain from anger, anxiety, discouragement, compulsive behaviour and shame.  I ask to know Jesus more intimately, love him more deeply and follow him more closely.  I ask to experience myself and others as Christ experiences us, as made in the image and likeness of God."


Romans9:24-26
²⁴including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As 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”. ’
²⁶ ‘And in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my people”,
   there they shall be called children of the living God.’


1) "...including;" "...but also from the Gentiles;" "I will call my people;" "...I will call beloved;" "...children of the living God." "...my people;" "...beloved;" "...children of the living God;"


2) The list is long of people I have a hard time loving.  And the list is long of people who, I feel, put me on their list of people hard to love.  At least, I don't feel they are making any effort that I should feel loved.  And those are the folk most likely to make it to my list.  But here, God promises through Hosea and reiterated by Paul, those we believed were not beloved, they will be called beloved; those who were not God's, will become God's, "they will be called children of the living God."  The stone that was cast away shall become the cornerstone... something to that effect.  How do I become more loving towards the people on that hard to love list?  How do I be deserving of love even when others place me on their hard to love list, rather than behaving in ways that make me even harder to love?


3) What is the invitation in all this?  To lay down my list.  When meeting folks I find hard to love, to remember that they are more than what is unlovable in them.  And that I too, am more than what is unlovable in me, we are all called children of the Living God.


"Holy One, help me set aside my resentment and to receive all your people as children of the living God."


breathprayer: "Children... of the Living God."