Never Say No: Raising Big Picture KidsSample

A Revelation

I understood the doctrine of grace—at least I thought I did. I had heard preachers (myself included) recite, “God accepts you just the way you are.” But “I enjoy you” was different. God’s acceptance is a lifesaving, judicial truth; we are forgiven. But merely to accept someone does not convey desire or delight. So in my mind, God’s acceptance was just a notch above tolerance: God in His grace permits us to come into His presence and heaven. But to enjoy someone indicates forward motion from God that expresses intentional and personal delight.

God’s creating, choosing, and redeeming us all point to this: He delights in us! “I enjoy you” means that God wants to be with us, now and always. Like a father or mother playing with his or her toddler, God enjoys simply being together.

He was not driving me like an angry disappointed father. Yes, God gave me a calling and wanted to use me, but He is not a utilitarian being who wants us only for what we can accomplish for Him. He wants to grab coffee and do life together.

Still, I had my doubts: Am I a heretic? Are these thoughts just a humanistic hangover? Carl Rogers might agree with this insight, but would God?

I mentally scanned the Bible for passages that would validate this idea. Then I found it: "He will take great delight in you [and] rejoice over you with singing” (Zeph. 3:17). The prophet went further to imagine God dancing and singing with joy over His redeemed people.

Then I remembered God walking in the cool of the day with the first couple, and David, the “apple of God’s eye,” and Psalm 139 where God’s thoughts toward us were more than the sands of the sea. But ultimately, I wondered if God’s loving thoughts were only to fulfill His saving agenda. Or could His thoughts of love also be personal because He wanted to be with us?

I couldn’t recall hearing this message about God’s pure delight, ever. I knew God was a good, loving Creator with an agenda: redeeming this world. But to realize God identified each of us on that crowded globe as a source of joy was a transforming revelation.