Feeling God’s Pleasure

If you’ve seen the film Chariots of Fire, you know that Eric Liddell was the Scottish missionary who won a gold medal in the 1924 Olympics. But for Eric, running wasn't about winning competitions. It was how he connected to God. “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.”

It seems to me that “feeling God’s pleasure” is the end product of “pleasing God” (Eph. 5:8: 1 Thess. 4:1). But we can inadvertently put so much emphasis on ‘doing’ things to please Him we miss out on the joy that Eric had discovered. Certainly Jesus wants us to be “doers of the Word” (James 1:22). But motivated by love, and to know the same love with which God loved Him (John 17:26). 

Twice, our Heavenly Father was so moved with love for Jesus that He broke through the heavens, speaking right out of eternity, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”  Just think how different our lives would be if we could live continually knowing, and yes, even feeling, God’s pleasure.

Comfort Food

The most basic of human needs is nourishment, i.e., food and water. And a vast majority of Earth’s population struggle every day to get enough of it to stay alive. All the while, obesity in the U.S. has become an increasingly large problem (pun intended). According to a recent report, the amount of food Americans eat has been increasing since the 1970s. Why? Simply this: ‘wealthy’ (relatively speaking) Americans eat for comfort, not for nourishment. Comfort eating has always been one of the greatest saboteurs of well-being!

Why? Paul rebuked people “whose god is their appetite” as those who “set their mind on earthly things” (Phil. 3:19). In other words, Paul points out the eating connection between those whose focus is more on earthly than heavenly. The temptation for comfort and pleasure (or burgers, fries, and milkshakes) is the bane of fallen humanity.

The writer of Hebrews calls Esau “profane” (common or earthly) because he “traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal” (12:16). Think about this. Just as eating lost Esau his birthright, so it was eating that lost Adam His. And when Satan tempted Jesus to eat, it was Jesus’ refusal to eat that won back the kingdom! Metaphorically speaking, it isn’t eating, per se, but forfeiting our relationship with God for immediate gratification of comfort and pleasure (or fast food).

For Your Pleasure

In the beginning when God created the world, sparkling with divine energy, bursting with unlimited expansion, He was pleased. On the seventh day, He stopped and looked around at all He had done, and said, “It is good.” And we see that God takes pleasure in His creation, including us: “The Lord is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love” (Psalm 147:11).

We exist for His glory, purpose, and delight (Acts 17:28; Proverbs 8:30). Bringing enjoyment to God, living for his pleasure, is what we were created for. Eric Liddell, Christian missionary and Olympic athlete said: “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

Standing in opposition to God’s pleasure are the world's pleasures. But they only last for a moment, and leave us with an emptiness the just makes us want more (Hebrews 11:25). Why are we so easily enticed by such empty pleasures? The simple answer is this: God wants us to find our pleasure in Him, but if we do not, we will look elsewhere. So our pleasure-seeking is really an inherent hunger for God. Living a life that is pleasing to God has its own great reward, not only in time, but for eternity. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psalm 16:11). So let us, like Paul, make it our ambition to discern what is pleasing to the Lord (2 Cor. 5:9; Eph. 5:10) and do it!

In Between Sundays

Welcome to Monday— what we think of as the first day of a new week. But of course we all know that Sunday is the first day of the week (and the day Christians go to church). Saturday—literally the ‘seventh’ day—is the Jewish Sabbath. The word also comes from the word “rest.” While we tend to emphasize that the Jewish Sabbath was the day Jews were to rest from work, it was also a day to devote one’s thoughts to God.

Isaiah captures the meaning of Sabbath when he says it is a day “…to turn your foot from doing your own pleasure, to desist from doing your own will, from seeking your own pleasure, and speaking your own word—a day to take delight in the Lord…” (Is. 58:13-14). When we do these things, we are resting from our own works and celebrating Jesus’ work for us, in us, and through us—every day.

Though the Sabbath observance was commanded under the Law, Christians are free to enjoy the true and lasting spiritual rest of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ every day of the week—every day can be, and should be, a Sabbath.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Happy Birthday Altha! Today many people will wish my wife Altha a “happy” birthday—not a successful or a lucky day, and certainly not a sad day, but a happy one. Why? because happiness is what we all want—for ourselves and others. As a matter of fact, we Americans consider it our constitutional right!

It is significant that Jesus began His sermon on the mount by proclaiming happiness—in what-we-call the beatitudes. The word “blessed” can be translated happy, and many scholars do. But the real meaning of “blessed” is “fully satisfied.” The English word “happy” derives from the old English word “hap,” meaning luck or favorable circumstances. This is the kind of happiness “earthlings” pursue—wealth, success, power, beauty, popularity… But Jesus teaches us to pursue the happiness that comes from being rightly related to Him, finding our satisfaction in Him. Pursuing God IS pursuing happiness!

Well I can assure that Altha does. Deeply satisfied by her pursuit of God, she knows that higher ‘blessedness.’ And as a result, she brings happiness to others.

And what's more, we have a happy God. Paul spoke of the “glorious gospel of the BLESSED God” (1 Tim. 1:11). David said “BLESSED be God” (Ps. 68:35). Do we make God happy? David thought so: “The Lord takes pleasure in those who honor Him and trust in His constant love” (Psalm 147:11). Our pursuit of God gives Him pleasure, i.e., makes Him happy. And our pursuit of Him is the only thing that will ever make us happy. I know Altha will be blessed today because not only is she happy with God, but because God is happy with her! So... have a happy day, all of you!