Who Appreciates You?

In a Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown asks Linus, "If you work really hard and get all the things that you want, is it worth it?"  Snoopy, overhearing the conversation, says, "Not if you don't have a dog that loves you."

Somehow Snoopy captures the reality that having someone who loves you and appreciates you is of greater importance.  When it is all said and done, who loves you and takes pleasure in you?  This may sound trite, but no one on earth has that kind of appreciation or understanding of all you go through.  There is only one, the Man Jesus Christ, who knows our every thought, emotion, and effort.  He also happens to be a little like Snoopy, who dances with joy when he sees you.  Zephaniah 3 states that God "rejoices over you with singing."

The obvious problem is that many of us do not know God or Jesus in that way.  We live day to day doing work, putting up with situations, handling family matters, overcoming life's challenges and trials, and when we are through with the busy-ness, take a few minutes to relax and be entertained by TV or movies or Internet sites.  It is possible to go through all the motions, be a "good" normal person, and never enjoy the pleasure of knowing Someone loves and appreciates who we are. 

Do you remember the scene in Chariots of Fire when Eric Liddell explains to his sister that when he runs he "feels God's pleasure."  Instead of that being an experience that only special people have at extraordinary times, we suggest that the basic purpose of life, "to know, serve and enjoy God," declares that those who know their God will walk in this awareness daily. 

So stop right now.  Close you eyes, look up and smile.  Say to Jesus, "are you rejoicing and singing over me right now?"  Can you see Him dancing for joy over you?  Maybe this whole concept is strange to you, yet is life worth it if you don't know the pleasure of the One who made you?

Something needs to change in our hearts and it begins with us realizing we need to know Him and that we are of infinite value to Him.  Ephesians 1:17 is a prayer worth saying everyday, "that the Father of Glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would give to 'me' a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him."


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