Bringing Delight To The Heart Of God

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:10

People want approval and acceptance and will do any number of things to achieve it.

It is one thing to seek the fleeting approval of a parent, spouse or employer. It is something infinitely more significant to seek—and experience—the approval of almighty God, as C. S. Lewis explains.

WALK WITH C. S. LEWIS
“How God thinks of us is infinitely more important than how we think of God. Indeed, how we think of him is only of importance in so far as it is related to how he thinks of us.

“In the end that face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised.

“It is written that we shall ‘stand before’ him (Romans 14:10), shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise—only possible by the work of Christ—that some of us shall find approval with God.

“To please God, to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness, to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in his son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
Perhaps without knowing it, you have been bringing delight to the heart of God. The satisfaction of an artist gazing at his masterpiece, the joy of a Father well pleased with his child.

Put the two together, and they spell “approval”—approval that will one day be expressed and rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ.

It’s an “eternal glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17) that can lift your thoughts in praise to the one who made it possible.