Beloved Before the Work Begins

In 2018, a young woman named Elena Ruiz stood backstage at a community theater in Tucson, Arizona, hands trembling before her first performance. She had rehearsed for months, memorized every line, prepared for every cue. But just before the stage manager called places, her phone lit up with a text from her father: "I am already proud of you. Not because of tonight. Because you are mine."

Elena said later that those words changed everything — not because they made her less nervous, but because they freed her from performing for approval. She already had it.

This is exactly what happens at the Jordan River. Jesus steps into the water, and before He preaches a single sermon, before He heals one leper, before He calls a single disciple, the heavens tear open and the voice of the Almighty thunders over the muddy riverbank: "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Notice the sequence. The affirmation comes before the ministry. The identity is declared before the work begins. The Father does not wait for the cross, the miracles, or the resurrection to say who Jesus is.

And this is the same God who speaks over every baptized believer. El Roi — the God Who Sees — looks at you and says the same stunning thing: You are mine. You are beloved. Not because of what you will do, but because of whose you are.