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was in Israel last year with my wife and we visited the famous River Jordan. What I remembered about the River Jordan was that it wasn’t very spectacular or even very wide. Though it was long, at its widest, it was a 100 meters wide and about 10 feet deep. Yet this is the place where several important events recorded in the Bible took place. The main event I want to mention comes from Mark 1:9-11, when Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan. The Baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:9-11) At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” 9
In this Scripture, God affirms Jesus as His son. It’s interesting because this statement of affirmation came to Jesus even before Jesus started His ministry. It preceded His temptation in the desert by Satan. Affirm people for who they are God’s affirmation of Jesus tells us something very important: that it comes to us not because of our achievement or what we have done, but because of who we are. We are His creation! He loves Christ not because the latter had accomplished great things, but because He is God’s beloved son. This lesson is one we should remember – we should affirm the people in our lives because of who they are, and because we love them. The power of affirmation is so important but as humans, we tend to only do so after the person has achieved his goal. Worse still, some of us don’t even affirm because we think the person was only doing what he was supposed to do.
So I call on parents to not affirm your children only when they come home with a good report card. Sometimes, we can be so tempted to praise our children only for doing well. Husbands and wives, let us also learn to affirm each other. Careell members, don’t just affirm your leaders because they have done a great job at the carecell meeting. Learn to do it before! Affirmation fosters one’s identity Going back to the scripture, God affirmed Jesus for a very powerful reason. When God declared to Jesus, “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”, His identity was created. This is because affirmation creates an identity in our lives. When Jesus started His ministry, He had to know He would always be God’s son, no matter what happened. When we know our identity, we know how to respond based on our identity. Likewise, it is important for you to know who you are through the Word of God and through Christ. We should never let the world tell us who we are. Do you have a clear idea of your identity? At this moment, God looks at you from heaven and says you are His sons and His daughters. In other words, we are called into sonship. Sonship has Rights So what is so special about being called into sonship? First of all, the identity carries rights. When God affirmed Jesus as His son, it means He was bestowed all the rights of heaven. Not some, all. As seen in Matthew 28, these rights included all authority and power. Jesus went on to say this authority and power was given to us so that we can make disciples of all nations. We cannot make disciples without His authority and power! Tragically, some Christians have listened to the lie of the enemy that they do not possess any of God’s power. Some of us have even become afraid and fearful of perceived spiritual ‘darkness’ during certain times of the year. As a child of God, we do not need to be afraid. Remember this: the Bible says in 1 John 4:4 that the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. But what does this authority really mean? Just the other day, I came across a construction worker
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