Is God proud of me? God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, take your pick, none of them are proud of me. They love me. Sometimes I even kind of believe they like me. But proud of me? Come on now. Are you serious? I know I’m supposed to just believe that kind of stuff because, after all, I’m a pastor, and I should know more than anyone else that God is proud of me.
And you know what, I do ‘know’ it (head), I’m just not sure I really fully ‘know’ it (heart), because when a friend hugged me on Sunday after my sermon and said, “I felt like Jesus just wants you to know he is so proud of you,” I chuckled on the inside.
I literally said to myself, “No, you’re mistaken. God is NOT proud of me.”
Don’t you mean he loves me? Because that’s easier for me to believe. Of course he loves me. He loves everybody so he has to love me.
What about He likes me? I could see that too. He’s a nice and friendly guy. Also heard he’s slow to anger which means he probably can tolerate my crabbiness. So yeah, he loves and sometimes likes me.
But is God proud of me?
Like proud of me as a son? Like I’m proud of my daughter? Like the charismatic dad who can’t stop yelling “that’s my boy” every time his son makes a free throw at a basketball game?
He actually looks at me and smiles?
He actually accepts my crappy gifts with delight?
He actually delights in me?
He actually is proud of the work that is happening in my heart?
Yeah. That is hard to believe.
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