Increasing Christ's Delight in us

A meditation on 2 Peter 3:18: Grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We are charged to grow in the grace of Jesus Christ. The foremost definition of grace is favor. We are to grow in Christ’s favor. The satisfaction of eternity is that we will be severed completely from our sin natures that hinder us, so that we can purely delight over Christ as He delights over us. This is our destiny. But, we can begin that mutual delight now. The degree of the Christian’s joy here & now depends on how much he delights in Christ and Christ delights in him. To increase someone’s delight in us is to increase in those things that give him pleasure. Therefore, to increase Jesus’ delight in us is to discover what brings him pleasure and ensure that we abound in those things. This is often one of those obvious truths that escape us.

So, we must labor to discover what brings pleasure and delight to Jesus. Jesus certainly delights in the attributes of His Father, therefore as we strengthen and improve the Christlike graces given to us, such as our forgiveness & forbearance toward others, generosity, gladness in God, zeal for God’s Glory, meekness, or patience, we thus grow in the favor of Jesus Christ. We grow as He delights in us and we delight in Him…forever.

This growth in God’s favor is an imitation of Jesus. In Scripture, the child Jesus Himself was said to increase in the favor of both God and men. Let us study what pleases our Lord and find whatever means we can to increase those things that He delights in.