The Rejected Saints God Calls Beloved
Elyse M. Fitzpatrick
Unloved: The Rejected Saints God Calls Beloved
Copyright 2025 Elyse Fitzpatrick
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Print ISBN 9781683597827
Digital ISBN 9781683597834
Library of Congress Control Number 2024944037
Lexham Editorial: Rachel Joy Welcher, Claire Brubaker, Mandi Newell
Cover Design: Jonathan Myers
To all the women and men who have been crushed
by the Law, look at the problems in their lives
and wonder whether they’re loved or not.
You are free. You are Beloved. Hang on.
4: Beloved Outcasts, Hagar and Photine
6: Finding Refuge under His Wings
Appendix: How to Know You Are a Christian
In Free of Charge, Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf rightly identifies the kind of god whom many Christians mistakenly worship. He identifies him as either the Negotiator or the Gift Giver. Volf describes the Negotiator as a god who makes deals, while the Gift Giver is like Santa, one who disperses gifts willy-nilly, regardless of what a person might actually need. The Negotiator and the Gift Giver sadly resemble the view many of us have of God. But this misunderstanding is nothing new. Ever since Adam and Eve first lost their open and free relationship with God and learned to cry, they and their descendants have vainly sought to rediscover life and relationship with him. Shamed exiles, they wandered in the dark, constructing false versions of God, futilely trying to find their way back to intimacy with him.
Their loss is our loss, too. We have also misunderstood the Lord and turned him into a god we can comprehend and control. We’ve judged him by our success or failure. We’ve tried to buy our way back to Eden through our good works and diligent effort. We’ve thought it a good idea to try to make deals with him or cajole him into giving us the sweets we crave, while all along the Savior calls us to come home ...
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About Unloved: The Rejected Saints God Calls BelovedDo you sometimes feel unloved by God? There is good news: you can’t earn God’s love. Whatever you have done or whatever has been done to you—none of it qualifies or disqualifies you from God’s love. In Unloved: The Rejected Saints God Calls Beloved, Elyse M. Fitzpatrick tells stories of God’s faithfulness towards the misunderstood and often unfaithful saints of the Bible, such as Sarah and Abraham, Tamar and Judah, and Bathsheba and David. These women and men suffered and failed and were often maligned. And yet they were loved by God. His love for these messy saints reminds you that God also loves you—generously, lavishly, and freely. Jesus came for the outcasts, men and women burdened by shame or guilt. He came for the unloved. And he calls you his beloved. |
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