Enemies such as the fear of man and the fear of failure can be addressed when the believer knows who he/she is in Christ – a beloved child of the most high God. Today, Ross Smith addresses the importance of embracing the truth of who we are and to whom we belong. Ed

The apostle Paul wrote a personal letter to Timothy whom he addressed as “a beloved son.” (2 Timothy 1:2) Timothy was more than a fellow worker. He was a “beloved son”. Jesus heard His Father declare those same words when the Holy Spirit “descended…upon Him and a voice from heaven…said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) The believer’s belonging is also defined by sonship, “…accepted in the Beloved”. (Eph.1:6)

Paul exhorted Timothy to overcome his fears in the context of sonship. When the believer is sure of his belonging, he can dare to address enemies of fear, including the fear of man and the fear of failure. Timothy was self-conscious about his experience and his age but Paul encouraged him to trust the leading of the Spirit of God, the Word of God and the Godly examples that he had seen and heard from Paul himself. “That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” (2 Timothy 1:14)

The grace of God accords value to a person irrespective of what a person has done or not done. Perhaps that’s why we are called human beings rather than human doings! The prodigal son struggled with his own sense of worth because he felt that he could no longer measure up to the expectations of being his father’s son. He believed that at best, he deserved to be no more than “one of your hired servants.” (Luke 15:19)

When things seem to go pear shaped in our personal world, we too can easily diminish our worth as individuals. In our minds, we can gravitate to the default position of devaluation. We can tell ourselves that we either don’t deserve better or that we deserve to get more than we have received. Either way, we are left wanting both mentally and spiritually. But the father of the prodigal son refused to entertain his son’s valuation of himself. Instead, he ordered that his son be accorded full recognition as a son and rightful heir of all that was his. In fact, his sonship was never under threat.

When the believer’s worth is framed by sonship, he can become confident to face his own internal world especially that which influences his own state of mind. The struggles that we all face are rarely the things that are sourced outside of us. They are almost always the struggles that we have navigating our thought world about things that either we were powerless to change or things that we wish we could have done differently. Paul was helping Timothy to re-frame his own valuations of himself.

The believer can learn to re-frame his own internal discourse with the absolute ironclad guarantee that he is first and foremost a child of God. The ‘who’ he is, always trumps the ‘what’ he has done or not done. Grace always accords the value of sonship/daughterhood to the believer. The believer’s status is never defined by his doing, whether meritorious or not. His worth is never the result of his actions. Your worth and my worth is the result of His actions! Once a son, always a son! Once a daughter, always a daughter!

Ross Smith
9 April, 2025