The Hug by Chris Hopkins

I am in a very odd place right now, Father. I cannot remember the last time that I was looking ahead to Thanksgiving Day and was not totally exhausted already and knowing that that was going to be my only day of rest. This year for Thanksgiving I am so grateful for the new opportunities that You have given me. May I never take them for granted and may I always give them the utmost best that I have. Amen.
Luke 3:21-22 (<<click to read the passage)
One would think it would not be the case but some people just can’t take a compliment. They can’t take praise. I know someone who in their short life has been driven so low that it literally makes them uncomfortable to hear encouraging words such as that. I attempted it once a little while back and they got away from me as quickly as they could.
I don’t believe that I have ever been in that position myself but I can see where it would be an easy place to find yourself, especially in our relationship with our Heavenly Father. He is holy. He is absolutely perfect. …I…am not…
Reading through this passage again the Father’s words to His “dearly loved Son” grab my heart.

“…you bring me great joy.” (NLT) “…in You I am well-pleased and delighted!” (AMP)

Stop a moment…right where you are…can you hear the Father saying those words to you? I realize that we are nowhere near the person that Jesus was but also, I must stress that we must realize that that is truly how God sees us!
The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:30 puts forth a great truth. (Read it through from the New Living Translation, then from the Amplified Bible)

God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. (NLT)

But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God [revealing His plan of salvation], and righteousness [making us acceptable to God], and sanctification [making us holy and setting us apart for God], and redemption [providing our ransom from the penalty for sin]… (AMP)

Because of Jesus, and what He has done for us, we, too, can bring our Father “great joy”. He can be “well-pleased and delighted” in us, too!
Don’t run because of who you see yourself being! Allow Him to embrace you. Allow Him to praise you. Allow Him to love you. You are dearly loved, no doubt about it!

Nov 25th, 2019, Mon, 8:39 pm