| Isn’t it great to step back from a project well completed and just enjoy the joy? You’ve seen the happiness in a child’s face whose crayon masterpiece gets taped to the fridge. It’s the same contentment and joy you feel after serving the applauded turkey dinner or receiving the “Great job!” red-inked on the top of your history exam. Plus, the pleasure doesn’t stop with one glance. We keep returning to admire the wooden bench we shellacked and finished, the row of pansies we planted along the wall, or the counted cross stitch that took 150 hours to complete.
Now imagine the pleasure God derives from everything he has made. What do you think surged through him the minute after a billion galaxies burst into being? With typical understatement, the Bible tells us, “God saw that it was good.” After standing back to take in the panorama, God rested—not to catch his breath from exhaustion but to savor the moment and relish in the pleasure of what he created.
Think of what surges through God’s heart when you—his epitome of creation—make it your ambition to be pleasing to him, aspiring to fulfill all his greatest desires for you. God may say of his inanimate creation, “It is good,” but what he is creating in you—“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27)—is great!
God excels in the art of understatement. To say of his incredible work in creating the universe, “It is good” employs a style that is restrained, to say the least. This means we can be assured that when we please him, we really please him, with a joy that is humanly indescribable. “So,” 2 Corinthians 5:9 says with more understatement, “we make it our goal to please him.”
I am awestruck to think that I can do something—anything—that brings you enormous pleasure and joy. What a privilege to play a part in giving you, the Lord of the universe, great pleasure. |
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