God is Proud of You

And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” [Matthew 3:17]

I've grown up in church hearing things like, "you are highly favored of the Lord," and that revelation that God's favor is on me regardless of what I've done and all because of what Jesus had done revolutionized my life since 14 years old.

At the end of November of last year, however, as I travelled, I saw a young mom expressing joy for her son as though he was her pride. The son just stood there being adored by his mom. 

It dawned upon me that the word 'highly favored' meant 'proud of', as in just as Jesus is the pride of God the Father, so am I in this world. 

God is proud of me, regardless of what I've done and all because of what Jesus had done and that I am God's child.

It's easy to think that God loves us, and even also to think that God favors us, but so very counter-intuitive, even immoral, to think that God is proud of us, since our actions clearly don't warrant such pride.

Yet, I want you to know this:

GOD IS ALREADY SO VERY PROUD OF YOU, FOR THE VERY FACT THAT YOU ARE HIS CHILD, REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!

He may not be pleased with your action all the time but He is most certainly pleased with YOU, because as JESUS is, so are you in this world! Your nature is found in Christ, and God is proud of you in Christ, not based on what you do, and thus you cannot ever be "un-prided" by the Father by what you do either!

God is so very proud of you, O highly favored in the Beloved!