I think most of us at some point or another have heard about Gary Chapman’s concept of the “Five Love Languages”. In his book, Chapman outlines that we essentially express and experience love in five general ways:
- Gifts
- Quality Time
- Acts of Service
- Touch
- Affirmation
Now, isn’t it incredible, that we can all find our experience of love in those categories? Think about it? You certainly fall under one, if not several of them. What is powerful to note, is that God, through Jesus expressed Himself in not one or two of those languages, but in ALL of them. Think about it, Jesus was God’s gift to humanity for redemption. In His 32 years on earth, Jesus spent quality time with us, he touched and he served us. And doesn’t God continue to express Himself in these forms even today?
Of these love languages, I think the most powerful is affirmation. Our identity in Christ, was secured through the giving of Christ’s sacrifice, but it’s through the Father’s continual affirmation that we develop our identity.
affirmation: to say that something is true in a confident way; to show a strong belief in or dedication to
Wow, what a powerful thought. Our Heavenly Father, through His love demonstrated in the sacrifice of Jesus, affirms, or declares as true, His love for us! You see, our identity is not necessarily established through gifts or acts of service. Our identity is developed by the affirmation of our loved ones, our parents and our family.
Psychologists have proven that a child at the age of 5 or 6 years old has already formed a fairly clear picture of how they view themselves. These studies show that how a child views themselves has nothing to do with background, location or race. It has to do with what was affirmed to them before the age of 5, by their parents.
This is such a powerful principle to grasp as we develop our identity in Christ. You see, the enemy wants to affirm that you are what you’ve done wrong, that you are your past. Essentially, at his core, the devil is an identity thief! But we have a Heavenly Father, who loves to affirm who we really are! We are loved, we are forgiven, we are special to Him. Don’t you love having a father that will affirm your identity even if at some point you seemed to have lost it?
I remember once when I was traveling, at some point in the hustle of getting off of a plane and heading to my next destination, I somehow managed to lose my driver’s license. Of course, I didn’t know I had lost it, and thankfully, one of the flight attendants found it for me. To make a long story short, somehow my dad ended up being able to recover it for me, I have no idea how he did it, but he happened to be in the right place at the right time to preserve my identity (really, to get my ID back). I can imagine the scene at the terminal, with my dad saying, “That is my son, I’m his father! Look, we have the same last name, he even looks like me!”
You know I’m grateful that not only do I have a father that will put his name on the line to verify my identity. We all have a Heavenly Father that will affirm us, even when it seems like we have lost our identity. Look at the Father’s heart demonstrated in Mark 1
“As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, ‘You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.’” Mark 1:10-11 (NLT)
The beauty of this scripture is that the Father affirmed Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry. You know I believe that Jesus walked in his full authority because of the Father’s affirmation, but notice that the Father affirmed His son, before he went and did great things.
You and I can also walk in the fullness of the authority we have in Christ, because of the Father’s affirmation of us. Today declare that you are God’s dearly loved child. You bring the Father great joy and he affirms you, he speaks boldly and confidently, that you are His and He is yours.
Live extraordinarily!
Jared
