Does God Delight In Me?

 

Does God delight in me?  This is a question I have been pondering.  I wondered if I was the only one who wasn't sure about it.  So, I asked the question to a few friends who were gracious enough to respond.  I just had this feeling that the answer really mattered.  After weighing their answers, searching scripture and pondering still more, I came to a conclusion.  YES!!!  God does delight in me!  What a relief!

On what have I based this glorious conclusion?  Humanities story as told in the Bible.  From creation, where God was pleased to make man in His own image and declared us very good (Genesis 1:26-31), to Revelation, where we forever live in his presence (Revelation 22:3-5).  God's delight is wrapped up in His love.  He is always faithful and His nature does not change (Numbers 23:9).  It pleased God to commune with mankind in the Garden.  Then the fall of man brought grief and separation from God.  The rest of the story has been God pursuing man to redeem him and restore the relationship they once shared.  Even in the midst of our fallen state God still delights in us, for His love has not changed.  "For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory." (Psalm 1149:4)

So does our behavior not matter?  Yes and no.  Our behavior is the result of what matters.  We love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), and His love has never been based on our actions.  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9).  It is faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).  In Romans chapter one, they were condemned for not honoring God as God.  He wants us to glorify Him by putting our trust in him.

Now, we know that we were created for good works (Ephesians 2:10) and James makes it clear that our faith is made evident by our deeds (James 2:18).  But, we must not make the same mistake the Galatians did, who after beginning in the Spirit tried to finish in the flesh (Galatians 3:1-3).  The great love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, reminds us that no matter how great our deeds, if we have not love they mean absolutely nothing!  So, let us be obedient and live the law of love.

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.

But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh;

rather, serve one another humbly in love.

¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command:

 “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

 ¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

 ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit,

 and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.

 They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

 ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

 ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy,

fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

 ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.

 Against such things there is no law.

 ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

 ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

 ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Galations 5:13-26

John Piper sums it up well, "What God delights about us is that we delight in Him."  So, I guess the next big question that needs to be answered is...Do I delight in God?  Hmmmm.....