By Steve Higginbotham
In our house, newborn babies were under the management of my wife. She was the expert in that phase of life. Oh, I suppose I could have been too, but when our children were that small, and their heads bobbed around like a “bobble head” mounted on the dashboard of one’s car, I just felt too clumsy to take charge.
However, when our children reached a couple of months old, they approached the age that was my speciality. I’ll always remember the evening when Anne Marie was sitting in my lap and I was talking to her. It wasn’t your normal adult talk, mind you, but while in the middle of my babbling, it happened. A big smile broke out across her face. She responded to me! (This response was especially satisfying because she smiled for me before she smiled for Kim, the one who had spent nearly every minute with her from her birth).
But the point is, she responded to me! And oh, how fulfilling that was.
As I think back to my feelings at the time, when Anne Marie responded to me with an affirming smile, I can’t help but wonder if God feels the same sense of satisfaction and joy when His children respond positively to Him.
Our God is a God of emotion. He feels. He experiences joy and sorrow, grief and pleasure, pride and disappointment, and happiness and anger. This being the case, I wonder what it would take to make Him happy? What would it take for Him to experience joy, excitement, and pride? I think I know the answer to those questions. A response! A positive response from His children must give Him the same kind of joy a positive response from my child gives me. When we are mature enough to humble ourselves and respond to God’s terms of pardon, don’t you know it causes rejoicing in heaven (Luke 15:10)?
The next time you find some pleasure in the actions of your children, regardless of how old they may be, remember the Father-child relationship you sustain with your Heavenly Father. Though you may be a full-grown adult, you are still a child of God. Have your responses to Him lately given Him reason to rejoice?