The Apostle John wrote to Gaius, a man whom he led to the Lord, and said, “I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, even as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (3 John 1:3,4). These verses became Scripture because this is how Jesus feels about seeing His children, here and now.
Before the Flood, we read of Enoch who the Lord took to Heaven without dying “because he had this testimony: that he pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). Enoch lived during a time when the world was heading into apostasy. Noah was the last of those who “walked with God” in a perverse generation before the Flood. Think how these men delighted God’s heart!
Abraham was called "the friend of God” because He believed everything the Lord said, in a world that said, “Who is the Lord that we should obey him?” And Lot, after he came to know the Lord, “was vexed with the filthy conduct of the wicked day by day with their unlawful deeds.” This is the same word applied to the Holy Spirit when people rebel against God. How it pleases God to see those who share His love for righteousness and his grief toward evil!
Jesus spoke about the rejoicing in Heaven over one sinner that repents, but those who walk uncompromisingly in His truth, in a crooked and perverse generation, delight His heart too… “The upright in the way are His delight” … “Those who deal truly are His delight” … “The prayer of the upright is His delight.”
An old hymn says… “And oh, that He fulfilled may see, the travail of His soul (Cross) in me, and with His work contented (delighted!) be, as I with my dear Savior.” Amen. Bring Him joy.
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