In the kids’ class that I teach at church, this past week we learned about John the Baptist. Then in my morning time this week, I was reading about him again. There’s a section in the story I can’t get away from.

It’s when Jesus comes up out of the water, and God the Father from Heaven says, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Mark writes it this way, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

Great Joy

I’ve been mulling over those words this week. Here’s what I’ve been pondering: God says to his Son, “You bring me great joy.” That’s what God sees when he sees Jesus. The Bible tells us multiple times that because of what Jesus did on the cross, when we accept God’s gift of salvation, we become sons and daughters. So does God look at you and me and think: You bring me great joy? I think he does.

If you have children, think about what they do that brings you great joy. For each of my kids it’s something different. Our eight-year-old Macey has the best laugh. When she gets going, it’s the cutest thing. It makes Matt and I smile with love and affection. Each of our kids bring us such joy. We love them so much.

God’s Joy

If we love our kids that much and they bring us such great joy, how much more does our Heavenly Father love us? How much joy must we bring to him?

We get so hard on ourselves and so down on ourselves because of our failures and mistakes, but we need to remember how God sees us. We need to remember this:

You bring great joy to God!

So when we get down on yourself and feel discouraged or worthless, remember that God sees great value in you. You bring him great joy just by being you. So be the you he created you to be and find your value in him!

For More Encouragement

A great book to read to be reminded of God’s love is David Jeremiah’s book, God Loves You: He Always Has or check out my post, Living Loved.