God delights in us
By John Fischer
If you’re anything like me, you are really good at beating yourself up on a regular basis. Most of us live with a lot of guilt. We are never good enough. Everything is our fault. This is because all our lives, we have learned acceptance based on performance. If we behave properly, we will be loved and accepted, but one mess-up and love is withdrawn. We are expected to do well, so we only hear about it when we don’t.
God loves us on a wholly different basis. With God, we begin with love and acceptance and we move out from there.
When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, a voice was heard from heaven as he came up out of the water, “This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him” (Matthew 3:17). At this point in his ministry, Jesus had done nothing to prove himself or earn his Father’s approval. No healings. No teachings. No disciples. His baptism signaled the beginning of his ministry, and yet we find God fully pleased with him. It was a given.
It is the same thing with us. God delights in us just as we are. You are pleasing to God already. Or to put it another way: God likes you. This may be hard to believe but it is true. You bring pleasure to God right now as you read this.
God’s love is extended freely through Christ’s death on the cross. It’s what Christ did that brings us into fellowship with God, not anything we do.
Think about it. The things you do today will not cause God to like you any more or less than he already does. That means your actions can spring from knowing you already bring God pleasure instead of trying to be worthy of it.
So take it. Bask in it. Yes, right now, without lifting a finger, God is pleased with you. He made you for this. He made you to delight in you, and you are entering into this purpose by acknowledging him in your life. This is where we start.
By John Fischer
If you’re anything like me, you are really good at beating yourself up on a regular basis. Most of us live with a lot of guilt. We are never good enough. Everything is our fault. This is because all our lives, we have learned acceptance based on performance. If we behave properly, we will be loved and accepted, but one mess-up and love is withdrawn. We are expected to do well, so we only hear about it when we don’t.
God loves us on a wholly different basis. With God, we begin with love and acceptance and we move out from there.
When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, a voice was heard from heaven as he came up out of the water, “This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him” (Matthew 3:17). At this point in his ministry, Jesus had done nothing to prove himself or earn his Father’s approval. No healings. No teachings. No disciples. His baptism signaled the beginning of his ministry, and yet we find God fully pleased with him. It was a given.
It is the same thing with us. God delights in us just as we are. You are pleasing to God already. Or to put it another way: God likes you. This may be hard to believe but it is true. You bring pleasure to God right now as you read this.
God’s love is extended freely through Christ’s death on the cross. It’s what Christ did that brings us into fellowship with God, not anything we do.
Think about it. The things you do today will not cause God to like you any more or less than he already does. That means your actions can spring from knowing you already bring God pleasure instead of trying to be worthy of it.
So take it. Bask in it. Yes, right now, without lifting a finger, God is pleased with you. He made you for this. He made you to delight in you, and you are entering into this purpose by acknowledging him in your life. This is where we start.
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