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Baldrick or Beloved?

Although it might seem like old news, I was delighted that Tony Robinson was given a knighthood for his work in politics and in the public arena. It also made me smile when I think of Tony Robinson playing Baldrick in Blackadder. I love that programme, with Baldrick and his ‘cunning plan’, love of turnips, and clueless nature which often made me laugh out loud.

Baldrick, who was valued less than a garden slug (he would like to eat them – hmmm yummy), was often undermined. I can’t help think that most of us have  Baldrick-type tendencies and feel as though we are pretty worthless. The Bible tells us something different as it speaks of God who honours us, who loves us, and says that we are precious in His eyes (Isaiah 43). Jesus views us very differently to how we feel about ourselves, and what we think others say about us. Jesus is not like Edmund Blackadder.

There is a wonderful song we have been singing quite often in Chapel in the last few weeks:

‘I will change your name,

You shall no longer be called

Wounded, outcast, lonely or afraid.

I will change your name.

Your new name shall be,

Confidence, joyfulness, overcoming one;

Faithfulness, friend of God,

One who seeks My face.’ [D.J. Butler]

God has a marvellous plan, which is far from cunning, that in Christ we are new people. In fact, we are elevated to being heirs with Christ, with all the privileges as well as the responsibilities that go with that. For me, it is a lifetime journey to fully understand that I no longer have a ‘Baldrick status’ but a ‘Beloved status’. Yet it is in this truth that I am to live and move have my being.

As Brennan Manning wrote: ‘Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.’

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