Love Child


 

I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. Jeremiah 31:3

Many years ago there was a Supremes song called “Love Child.” It told the story of children born to parents who had not bothered to get married before conceiving them. There was a lot of shame and humiliation implied in the lyrics. The singer is saying that she will not make that mistake or cast that shame onto her own child.

          Those lyrics may seem a bit odd in these days where children born outside of marriage are pretty much the norm. Still the message is there, we aren’t good enough based on the facts or circumstances of our early life. Sad. The sins of the parents should not determine the value of the child. Thankfully they don’t. Nor do our own sins determine our value to our Father.

          Read the verse above again. “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” It doesn’t say, “I have loved you, the child born to the two happily married people, the child who does everything right or the child who has never even contemplated sin.” No! It says “you.” Therefore whoever “you” are as you read it, this verse means you.

          Put your name in it. “I have loved you, ____ with an everlasting love.”  Do you see that?  We are all loved. I am a love child and you are too! Guess what? That’s not something to make us feel shame. That is the truly the best news ever!

          In God’s eyes, to be God’s love child, is to be fully protected, cared for and covered in love and mercy.

          A few decades ago “love child” had a different connotation. I can’t help but wonder how many of those children missed the message that they were loved and that they were wanted. That they had a purpose.  What I absolutely do not want is for anyone to miss that message ever again.

          Psalm 139 tells us that we are God’s creation, that we cannot move out of his sight or reach, that we are in fact, fearfully, beautifully wonderfully made. Genesis 1 tells us that we are made in God’s image. That is love for sure!

          Embrace the fact that you are a Love Child. Listen to that old song and know that you are the antithesis of every word it says. You are loved, no matter how you got here, when you got here or who helped bring you here. You are loved.

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