Good Pleasure part 4
I'm going to try to make this as simple as I possibly can. Ephesians 1:4-5, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." What is God's good pleasure? For Him to be our God and for us to be His people. For us to know Him as He truly is--as our heavenly Father. The "adoption" of children. Us being conformed into the image of His Son. Knowing that as Jesus is, so are we in this world. Knowing that Jesus--the beloved Son of God--is our true identity. Who is Jesus? God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. That's the stuff that makes God happy. He has always and will always love us. What He likes is when we know it and believe it. When we receive it and release it. What really gets God fired up (in a good way) is when He sees Himself in us. When He can express Himself to us, and in us, and through us, and as us. Just as any true father is proud of his son when that son embraces who he (the father AND he the son) is. No true father wants his son to pretend to be someone he's not. Case in point: I have shared everything I am and everything I have with Logan. Some of it he picked up, some of it he didn't. Our musical tastes are very different. That doesn't bother me. I don't want him to be a clone of me. Or a robot. I want him to be HIM. I want him to be the best HIM he can be. So sometimes we listen to my music, and sometimes we listen to his. When I see him happy... that's what makes me happy. His pleasure gives me good please. And, listen, that doesn't mean I let him do whatever he wants at all times. He's nine. There's still a lot of responsibility on me to make sure he takes care of business. But at the same time, I'm teaching him HOW to take care of that business. I'm letting him be who he is, and I'm teaching him how to do that in the confines of the world we live in. Point being: God doesn't want mindless slaves. Remember when we talked about the love slave who was set free but loved his master and didn't want to leave? That's what God likes. He shows us a more excellent way and then makes it available to us. He doesn't force His will or His way upon us. If you have to beg for something, even if you get it, it's not worth it. If you have to force someone to do something, it's not real. God gave us His heart so that we could live a life of love. A life that flows from His heart beating with love in our chests. That's what makes Father God happy. Abba. Father. That's the picture we see in the relationship between God and Jesus. God and man. God and us. He is our Father. Knowing that we are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased is what gives Him good pleasure. That's why He did what He did on the cross. Jesus drew us out of Adam and into Himself, so that we might know God as Father and ourselves as Son. So that we might run TO God instead of running FROM Him. Adam ran from God. Hid from the presence of God. Jesus did the opposite. There is a more excellent way. His name is Jesus. His name is love. Letting God love us and loving Him back by loving people is what makes God happy!