I was watching an old western some time ago and one of the characters’ parting shots to everyone he met was, “May the Good Lord take a likin’ to ya.”
Not only has the Good Lord taken a liking to us, scripture says that He delights in us. As hard as that is to believe for some of us, it’s true. Psalm 18 says of God that, “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters and rescued me from my powerful enemies who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”
Did you notice all of the action words in that verse that God does on our behalf? God reached down, took hold of, drew me out, rescued, supported and delighted. Now, does that sound like a savior who is irritated every time you come calling?
Don’t you desire to be with your kids, talking about their day, just hanging out with them? Psalm 37:23 says, “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”
Is God your heavenly Father? If so, He knows you by name and He knows the number of hairs on your head. You have His favor, His friendship and, most importantly, His forgiveness. No other religion has that.
Jesus is not like an Army drill instructor who whips a company of men into shape but cares nothing for them individually. This is not a distant relationship only for a large group of people, but a very personal knowledge about you as an individual. He loves and delights in you as a person.
He’s not withholding His love until some future version of you gets everything right. He delights in you now. The Old Testament prophet Zephaniah tells us that God “rejoices over us with singing.” Just like we sing over our kids and grandkids, God sings over us.
So why is it so important to believe that God delights in you? Because if everyone in the body of Christ ignores the scriptures that proclaim God delights in us, we will take a lemon juice version of the gospel to the world. Who would even want to become a Christian if every church is full of people whose God just puts up with them?
When a person believes that Jesus was God on earth in a human body, believes on His name and that He was raised from the dead, we have eternal life. Only when we believe that His love is personal and that He delights in His children can we go into a hurting world and minister the message of God’s love. And it’s a delightful message!
Ken Staley is pastor of Faith Church of Pleasant Grove, 9:30 a.m., and Harrisville Methodist Church, 11 a.m. Both are Global Methodist congregations. Text Ken at 918-852-9797.
