Pleased part 2
When God looks at Jesus, He sees you. And when He looks at you, He sees Jesus. Because you are IN Christ. And Christ is in you. That concept is so important for us to understand. Because it makes what is true about Jesus... true about you. Which is (at least) part of what Jesus was saying when He identified Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the truth that defeated the lie. You know, the lie that the serpent hissed into Eve's ear when he told her she had to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in order to be like God. When, in truth, we were created in the image and likeness of God. We were already like Him. We just didn't know what He was like, so we didn't know what we were like. We didn't know who HE was, so we didn't know who WE were. And, in our desperation to find out who we were--to be someone better than we thought we were--we swallowed that lie hook, line, and sinker. "Do in order to be? Well, obviously we aren't good enough right now... so... yeah. That's makes perfect sense." And to the carnal mind it DOES make perfect sense. But that kind of thinking didn't please God. God told Cain He didn't want what Cain could produce on his own. He wanted a Lamb. THE Lamb, specifically. See, God isn't interested in what we can do for Him. He is interested in what He can do in, and through, and as us. God doesn't want you to work your tail off trying to impress Him. He doesn't want you to try to earn anything from Him. And watch this--not too long ago I relayed the story of how my son, Logan, wanted a book. And he DID work his tail off shovelling snow so he could earn enough money to buy it. But that's a completely different story. Because he wasn't trying to earn my affection. He already has that. And he knows he has it. Because I tell him on the daily how much I love him. How he's my guy. So he doesn't try to earn daddy's love. Love can't be earned. It is freely given, and must simply be received. Received and released. And we receive it BY releasing it. By giving it away. By sharing it. Because we know and believe that we have it. Just as Jesus knew and believed that He had it when God declared it to Him in our key verse of Mark 1:11, "And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And if you look at the verse before that one, you will see that it was only after the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth--descended on Jesus like a dove that the ultimate truth of the universe was exposed. The truth that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. The truth that Jesus is your true identity. The truth that God is love and He loves YOU. That He is well pleased with you. Not because of what you do, but because of who you are. That's why its so important to know, and believe, and accept, and embrace, who you REALLY are. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. He is your loving heavenly Father. You are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased!