“Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Psalm 37:4
God did not need us. He did not create us to fulfill His plan or purpose. I believe the reason God created us was simply that we make Him happy. He delights in us!
I have spent too much of my life trying to earn God’s delight and praise. I fell into the trap of trying to please God by trying to prove the things I do are valuable. All the while I made sure I was doing exactly what I was supposed to. I unintentionally tried to control the outcome. To measure if I was succeeding or not, I sought to analyze others opinions of me. Or I tried to make sure everything I did showed measurable value. But none of that worked.
Deep down, there was a simmering fear: I wasn’t making God happy.
Yes, I knew He loved me, I knew He saved and justified me through the plan of salvation; but silently I wondered if I was worth it. Was I doing my part? Was I measuring up to this incredibly free and undeserved gift? I knew I couldn’t work to get salvation. I had subtly believed that at one point. Living redeemed from that lie, a new lie had morphed in its place. I now subconsciously believed that I had to please God by my works because of this gift of salvation.
In my pursuit to “make God happy” (to not let Him down) I missed another free and beautiful gift. The gift of God’s delight and pleasure.
At the root of my purpose– and yours– here on earth is to make Him happy. He created me for His delight and pleasure (Revelations 4:11 and Psalm 18:19). I was running hard after that desired delight. Deep in my soul I knew this truth so I wanted to make sure I was accomplishing it. All the effort to make God happy was exhausting.
It was exhausting because it was something I wasn’t designed to “earn”. I already had His delight. I make Him happy by being His child. He is pleased with me because I fear Him and love Him. He delights in me because I delight in HIM!
This takes enormous pressure off of us to preform while voiding the race to prove our value and worth. He has given gifts and talents to us for His glory, so this truth isn’t a license to be lazy and do nothing. Instead it is the foundation we can build on. When we freely accept the truth that He delights in us because we delight in Him, we can step into our gifts out of a love and desire to bring Him glory because of our love and gratitude for Him. When we freely receive our gifts and talents to be used for our delight and His, we can freely pour them out on others.
We have nothing to earn from God. When we realize this we can bask in the awe of this amazing gift of love and kindness. We can grow and grow in our desire and delight of Him as we stand in awe of His greatness. My sister, freely receive the gifts He gives you. Out all His riches adore and desire Him more. In this freedom use your days to bring Him endless praise through the free gifts He has given you–as an act of worship, not a pursuit of acceptance.
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