In his moving and deeply emotional message, Pastor Scott Wilson took us through his upbringing with his dad whom recently passed away. Wilson described childhood memories of his father praying for him and his brother every morning on their way to school and teaching them Scripture verses to memorize weekly. Sorrowfully, as his father was suffering from late stages of dementia before passing away, Wilson began experiencing a need in his core to fill the spot his father once held.

Psalm 68:5 states that God is, “a Father to the fatherless.” This doesn’t only apply to those that do not have a father figure in their lives, but it reflects also on the lack and missing gaps some fathers may have, regardless of how hard they try to be a good father. Only God can fill those gaps and heal the wounds. No matter how great his dad was, Wilson came to the realization that, since we are all flawed humans, we will never be fulfilled and healed in our souls unless we are intimately connected to our Heavenly Father, who is the only One that is perfect.

Jesus himself needed this intimate connection. In Luke 3:22, as Jesus was praying during his baptism, heaven was opened and “a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” What the Heavenly Father said to His Son in that moment reveals three core essential affirmations we all need to hear.

1. “You are my Son,” which speaks about identity. God didn’t say, “You are the Messiah,” “You are the Christ,” or “You are the Promised One.” Why? Because the identity God wanted Jesus to have wasn’t wrapped up in his calling, but rather in his relationship to the Father.

2. “Whom I love,” which reveals the deep affection God has for His Son. Such devotion assured Jesus that his identity is secure in God’s love for him. In our core, we need to know that our affection comes from our Father in order to feel His love for us.

3. “With you I am well pleased,” which affirmed God’s approval of Jesus before he had done a single miracle or preached a single message. What God spoke to Jesus was not based on his performance, but on his identity instead.

All of us need this at the core of our being: An identity rooted in love and affirmed with words of affection. Wilson noted that before his father rested, he desired to hear one more time those words of affirmation, particularly in the area of his ministry. He states, “What I wanted from my earthly father is what I desperately need from my Heavenly Father.”

In the end, we need to know that God has imputed the righteousness of Christ on all those that believe in his name (2 Cor 5:21). What this means is that Jesus Christ didn’t only forgive our sins and pay our debts, but because of his death and resurrection, all who believe are now credited with all the righteous deeds he committed. Jesus paid our debt of sin, which is death, and gave us the reward of righteousness, which is eternal life in him (Rom 6:23).

Jesus did this so that we will become one with him. He wanted us to know that the way God loves him, and claims him, and is pleased with him, is the same towards us. His prayer in John 17:23 reveals this, as he asks God, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”