“So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I Am He. I do nothing on My own but say only what the Father taught Me. And the one who sent Me is with Me – He has not deserted Me. For I always do what pleases Him.’” (John 8:28-29 NLT)
It seems clear to me that Jesus found pleasure in the Father as the Father found pleasure in Him. It’s the proverbial mutual admiration society on steroids. Only God the Son knew fully and with complete understanding and appreciation the love and heart of the Father. And only as we have intimacy with the Son can we gain the right perspective and have a right appreciation of the heart of the Father.
It’s hard to please a father who is angry, vindictive, and mean, but it’s much easier when the father is loving, kind, caring, understanding, and open with us, even when we fail and disobey. Often our view of God is slanted and guided by our opinion of our earthly father. If he was absent, angry, uncaring, unloving, and mean, we’ll too often project those ideas onto God our heavenly Father.
But, if our earthly father was understanding, patient, kind, loving, supportive, and forgiving we can more easily see our heavenly Father in that kind of role. What’s my point? It’s easier to please a father who is kind and caring than one who is aloof, dominant and uncaring; thus, the reason Jesus found it so easy to love His Father and why we should as well.
Augustine made an insightful observation when he wrote: “God finds pleasure in us when we find pleasure in Him.” But how do we do that? As human beings we find pleasure in many things. I find great pleasure in writing, listening to the Lord and recording His thoughts, as, I suspect, some of you do. Others find pleasure in sports – participating in them and/or watching them; others in crafts of various sorts, reading, researching, investigating, inventing – the list is long of those things in which we find pleasure.
However, my sense is there is no equal to the pleasure we find in relationships, especially our fellowship with our heavenly Father and His Holy Son, the Lord Jesus. Having walked with the Lord for more than 60 years, nothing satisfies like intimacy with my Savior. To sense His presence, to hear His voice, to walk in obedience to His directives – there’s nothing like it that can be achieved on a human level.
The byproduct of pleasing and seeking to honor the Lord in every avenue and aspect of our lives is living in His pleasure. As Augustine observed, God’s pleasure with us begins and thrives in our pleasure in Him. But how? What does it mean? What might it look like to find pleasure in God? How do we find pleasure in a relationship with anyone? How do you find pleasure with your spouse? Your kids? Your relatives? Friends?
Yes, of course, there’s a level of physical pleasure that can be achieved in relationship with our spouse that was designed by God to be enjoyed exclusively between us as husband and wife, but even that intimacy can be copied, cheapened, and still enjoyed by those who take it outside of marriage and outside the boundaries of God’s design.
But the intimacy we share with God which results from our pleasure in Him and His pleasure in us, can ‘t be duplicated by some artificial means, not even drugs. It’s an unadulterated enjoyment of pure love that’s from the heart of God to our heart – an ecstasy of spirit that cannot be gained through artificial means, but only comes from our heavenly Father as a means of expressing His joy and pleasure in us when He sees and knows that He’s the center and focus of our joy and pleasure in Him.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 