The Judge's Declaration

In a Dallas County courtroom in 2019, three-year-old Marcus sat on his foster mother Angela's lap, wearing a tiny bow tie he'd picked out himself. He didn't understand the legal proceedings. He didn't know what "termination of parental rights" meant or why the social worker kept shuffling papers. He had done nothing to earn what was about to happen. He hadn't proven himself. He hadn't passed a test.

Judge Tammy Kemp looked down from the bench and spoke the words that changed everything: "This child is yours. He belongs to you."

Angela wept. Marcus tugged at his bow tie. The courtroom erupted in applause. And from that moment forward, Marcus carried a new identity — not because of anything he had accomplished, but because someone with authority had spoken it over him.

When Jesus waded into the muddy Jordan River alongside sinners seeking repentance, He had not yet preached a single sermon, healed a single leper, or called a single disciple. His public ministry was zero days old. Yet the heavens tore open and the voice of the Almighty thundered the declaration that would sustain Him through every wilderness and every cross: "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

God did not wait for the résumé. He led with identity. He spoke belonging before demanding performance. And the same God who split the sky over the Jordan speaks that same stubborn love over every one of us — before we've done a single thing to deserve it.