I’ve been trying to understand how God views me. I believe that He loves me and that he is delighted with who He made me to be. I am His cherished child. Just the way I am. That doesn’t mean He accepts my sin. He provides covering for that. Without His grace I would never be acceptable. But because of it, I am.
So, then, what motivation drives me to refine and improve? Nothing I can ever do will make me perfect or acceptable in His eyes. That is a function of justification. Why do I try so hard to live up to what I think He expects of me?
For a long time I think I was trying to please Him, like a child who can never live up to an unreasonable parent’s expectations. I was trying to accomplish by my behavior what Christ did for me on the cross. I can’t make myself perfect; He did that.
I’m beginning to see that the motivation of my life can be as simple as living to make Him smile. He delights in me. He delights in my delight. It’s like watching Scott make Colton laugh, and Colton’s laugh making Scott laugh and so on and on to hysterical joy: a delighting chain reaction. When I look around at all the gifts He has given, what a blessing for us (Him and me) to delight in them together.
The more I delight in Him and He in me the more I will reflect Him in my life. That is the byproduct, not the goal of life lived to make Him smile.
