His Delight

Too often, many of us fail to view God’s heart toward us as one of loving delight.  Indeed, as many sociologists who study the church can attest, what keeps most people from entering church houses today is a fear of condemnation.  One poll after another demonstrates that many leave the church and many more stay away from churches due to a misunderstanding regarding the nature of God’s bent toward us.

What the life of Jesus clearly revealed is that God is FOR us, and not against us.  If we are ever to escape the darkness (which I wrote about last time) of life, we must see God as He is and recognize His desire to see us delight in Him, even as He delights in us.

That is not to suggest that God’s standard for us is less than holiness, perfect moral purity.  Rather, it is to realize that God’s hope for us is the elimination of all that would hinder us from delighting in Him, and the removal of all that is in our lives which hinders His unbridled delight in us.  God does hate sin.  He hates sin chiefly because it is the anti-holiness which corrupts our hearts and wounds this world.  Holiness, being completely and wholly His in action and in essence is always the goal.  As fallen, broken, and sinful creatures, we miss the mark of holiness and thereby rob our lives of the beauty that could be ours.

The extent to which we lack moral purity determines the level of delight we experience in our souls.  Therefore, for us individually, and for the world collectively, our aim must be, and God’s aim always is, to minimize our resistance against holiness, and to hunger more for the kind of purity God desires to impart to us.  The fancy theological word for this process of becoming more “delightful” is sanctification.  God’s goal is to bring us to Himself, and to make us into a people of delight.

Jesus’ demonstrates this reality in His teaching in Luke 15.  In this chapter we see a God who is for broken humanity rather than a God ready to push the “nuke ‘em” button.  In fact, the context of this teaching is telling.  Jesus is speaking to a group of friends (sinners and tax collectors) only indirectly, as He is aware that the religious leaders are there watching.  The leaders are mumbling to themselves, “This guy is hanging out with the lowest of the low…the chief of sinners…some spiritual guru he is!”

And so Jesus loads up, and lofts a deadly blow.  Only in this case the blow is to the “goody goodies” and followers of the moral law who are always looking to put sinners in their place and blow the whistle on all moral failures.  As was customary when a speaker, teacher, or rabbi wanted to get a point across during that time, Jesus serves up His teaching in a three-fold manner.  In that culture, teaching in 3s was akin to texting in all caps, or yelling at the top of one’s lungs to get a listener’s attention.  In essence He is saying, “If you don’t get anything else I have to say, people, GET THIS!”

And so, as you read chapter 15 of Luke what you see is Jesus’ heart, God’s heart, toward less than delightful people, revealed.  In stark contrast to the posture of the religious leaders of the day, Jesus suggests that God is on an all out search for those who are “lost”, that is, separated from an engaging and life-defining relationship with God.

Jesus tells three stories about “lost things”.  These stories are called parables.  Parables convey a deeper truth.  Jesus speaks of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son.  In each story something of enormous value is missing/lost.  And in each story there is an all out search, hunger, and thirst for that which is lost.  And in each story ridiculous joy is expressed when the lost thing is found.

What Jesus is saying is quite clear.  He hates that which separates His children from Himself, but He hungers, thirsts, and searches for those who have drifted from His love.  He is not looking for a moment to jump out from the bushes to ambush and destroy those that have ventured off the path.  Rather, His eyes roam the landscape, search the highways, and look into the windows of darkened rooms, …looking for those that might just come back home.  He longs to remove the darkness which keeps them away, and longs for His children to find delight in Himself again.  He delights in His creations.

If you have found yourself lost.  If your heart is missing.  If your love for God has run dry.  If you wonder what His thoughts about you are.  If you have found yourself, along with the lost son, living amongst the slop of life…He delights in you even as He hates and weeps over what you have done to yourself.  He is looking over the horizon, longing to see you moving back in His direction.  If you will but turn, He will run to you in delight and offer you the Kingdom.

Read Luke 15 today.  Share it with someone who needs the delightful and abounding love of a God, a God who still searches the world over for those whom He is calling to Himself.

Delighted to know Him,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

This entry was posted on 21. February 2008 at 14:35 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.