He Is Pleased with You

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son;[d] with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:9-11

3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted?[i] And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to[j] you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:3-7

The Lord God is truly pleased with you. This is something which we must be reminded of on a daily basis. Our heavenly father shared His love and affection for His son Jesus even before any work of ministry was performed. All Jesus did up to the point of his baptism was to enjoy life. It was at His baptism, where Jesus identified with His Father and the Holy Spirit confirmed it, that his Father said out of heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

When we are baptized it is a public acknowledgement of our identification with our Heavenly Father and He will confirm this with His Holy Spirit who will be present within our lives. We need to do nothing else, and our Heavenly Father is pleased with us.

Yet, life as we know it continues and we still have to contend with the trials of living, helping our family and others to survive. The most difficult thing we have to do is to rule over sin, according to the power and grace afforded by Christ. When sin entered the human race it created a rift between us and God, and it really left us questioning our value. Are we good enough? Can I do things which are pleasing to God and others? What if I fail in my attempts?

The best thing we can do with our family, our children, and our co-workers is to let them know how pleased we are with them. To let them know we love them and that they are valued. This is the bottom line. We can always make corrections and improvements along the way. Those things do not affect the value that each person has.

The devil wants us to equate value with performance. He wants us to make our value contingent upon how well we do for God or others. But this is a false narrative that people live by. This is how the enemy controls us, is by controlling our value.

For some reason, perhaps the old school mentality, my dad would always have us pick up coins that we found on the ground. Whether it was a penny, a dime or a nickel. If it was a quarter, it was a score! He would say that I was good luck. So my brother and I would always pick up lost change on the ground, whether we were in a parking lot, McDonals, or a sidewalk. The reason is that every penny counted and it always had value. These days, I hesitate to touch anything that’s been on the ground for more than 5 seconds, but it was a lesson that reminded me of value that doesn’t change just because it’s been kicked around on the ground.

Father,

Thank you that you have created each of us with immeasurable value and that you love us no matter what we go through. We are not controlled by our performance, and our mistakes do not define us. This is what satan would want us to think. May we know each day that we are loved by you. May we also show others the same.