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What Does God Delight In?

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We Worship What We Love

The Bible tells us clearly: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve,” (Luke 4:8, ESV). Elsewhere God’s Word tells us to love him with all our heart. God must be your God, King, Ruler, Treasure.

And yet, we are born into this world in love with ourselves. Our great enemy, Mr. Self, lies within us, in our flesh. We are all worshippers, servants, slaves, and lovers of self.

The love of self feels good because it is natural; it is our sinful nature.

Proverbs 14:12, ESV, says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

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The love of self that seems so right is so terribly deadly. It is the way to death: death of relationships, friendships, health, communities, cultures, and eternal death under God’s judgment (Romans 6:23).

This is why the radical message of Christianity is difficult to hear for every person on the planet (ESV):

  • Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
  • John 12:25, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

How then do we go from loving self to denying self?

Luke 4:8 ESV Bible Verse: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’

What Does God Delight In?

Isaiah 42:1, ESV, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.” God delights supremely in his Son (see Isaiah 53).

So, who is Jesus Christ that God would delight in Him, that we should delight in Him?

God delights in His Son. The Father’s Son is the pleasure of the Father.

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It was only of Jesus Christ that God said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” (Matthew 3:17, ESV).

Therefore, our love affair with self can only be overcome by a superior Treasure, something better — Someone greater. Jesus Christ is the most excellent and praiseworthy Being!

Heaven is consumed with the praise, honor, glory, exaltation, and worship of the Lamb (Revelation 5:12).

One writer once said that to delight in Jesus is to be most like God. If God delights supremely in Jesus Christ, our hearts must likewise find their joy in Him.

Jonathan Edwards said this, “Real Christians do not first see that God loves them, and later on find out that He is lovely. They first see that God is lovely, that Christ is excellent and glorious. Their hearts are captivated by this view of God, and their love for God arises chiefly from this view. True love begins with God and loves Him for His own sake.”

May God grant us faith and sight to see, savor, and treasure the person of Jesus Christ more than ourselves.

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Cale is the pastor of Union Baptist Church in Orrick, MO. He is married to his wife Kelly and they have two children (third on the way!). Cale will be graduating with a Masters degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary this Fall and Spring 2023.
Cale is the pastor of Union Baptist Church in Orrick, MO. He is married to his wife Kelly and they have two children (third on the way!). Cale will be graduating with a Masters degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary this Fall and Spring 2023.




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