Our Father is Accepting & Filled with Joy and Love
I was performing the wedding ceremony for one of our cousins. It was a beautiful outdoor spot overlooking a valley with fall foliage colors on full display. We did have to wait a few minutes for a break in the misty rain, but thankfully it stayed dry for the length of the ceremony.
At the end of the ceremony, just after the groom kissed his bride, there was a break in the clouds, and a sunbeam shone directly on the couple, illuminating the bride’s beautiful face.
The hundred plus family and friends who were gathered expressed a collective gasp at the Lord’s timing and the beauty of the scene before their eyes.
I seized the moment and finished with the benediction written in my script: “And now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, Amen.”
In their book, The Other Half of Church, Jim Wilder and Michel Hendricks write, “This is the definition of joy: I want to be with you. Joy is relational in its essence. (And) Joy is the foundation for a secure bond with God. When I trust that God is happy to be with me and is smiling at me, this joy naturally removes fear from the relationship… Our identity is built and formed by joy-bonded relationship. The identity center in our brain grows in response to joy, which helps us act like ourselves in all situations. In a performance-based relationship or community, our identity becomes distorted because we feel the need to perform. When we put on a pretend self, our joy starts decreasing.” (pg. 60-61)
When you picture God looking at you, what expression is on His face? Is that picture based upon your performance? Or is it based on our Father God’s character and steadfastness?
In my teens and twenties, the look I pictured on God’s face toward me was usually one of disappointment, disgust, or even disdain. I just couldn’t live up to the expectations that would make Him happy.
After being exposed to the Freedom in Christ message and taking hold of my freedom in Christ, I realized this picture was inaccurate. It was based upon the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil. For so long, my measure of my heavenly Father’s approval had been based upon my performance.
Now, by faith, I know that my heavenly Father is accepting and filled with joy and love when He looks at me. This is no longer based upon my performance on any particular day. Rather, it is based upon the accomplished work of Jesus Christ.
“But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.” (Romans 5:8-11, CSB)
Do you ever wonder if God loves you? He proved His love 2,000 years ago. Will you receive it by faith?
Not only that, but “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, ESV).
The apostle Paul wrote, “Now the Scripture says, no one who believes on Him will be put to shame… For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:11 & 13, CSB). It is on this basis, calling on God in faith, from which we then “by the mercies of God, present (our) bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1).
Dear Saints, your Father God makes a joyful noise when He looks at you! His face lights up to see you! Can you picture Father God smiling upon you? Can you picture His face lighting up when He looks at you? This is the image Scripture describes for us.
Your Father God accepts you and is filled with joy and love toward you.
This Advent season, I encourage you to rely on this by faith, rejoicing in the accomplished work of Jesus Christ that makes it possible. As His children, we must always start from, and come back to, this truth about our Father God. Once you believe that God accepts you and rejoices over you, your life will reflect His love, joy and acceptance to those around you—and this is a further acceptable sacrifice to God. Just as the sunbeam illuminated the bride’s face at the ceremony’s conclusion, may the reality of God’s love and affection for you illuminate your heart and life.
“I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are stern and have placed unrealistic expectations on me.”
“I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, have accepted me and are joyfully supportive of me.” (Romans 5:8-11; 15:7, Zephaniah 3:17) – Neil T. Anderson, The Steps to Freedom in Christ, p. 13.