To Be An Ingredient in Divine Happiness - C S Lewis

 

           To Be An Ingredient in Divine Happiness - C S Lewis

About meeting God....

"In the end that Face,  which is the delight or the terror of the universe, must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised.

It is written that we shall "stand before Him" - shall appear, shall be inspected - almost incredible that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination. To please God...to be a real ingredient in Divine happiness....to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or as a parent in his child -- it seems impossible! Our thoughts can hardly sustain it, but so it is."

                                                      from Mere Christianity

No, our thoughts cannot imagine it.  That Our God can look on us with pleasure and joy. That we can be an "ingredient in Divine happiness"...that we can make God smile and find joy. That we can make God happy! As a parent finds joy in his child and an artist finds satisfaction in his work. No,I can not truly imagine that. But this is what He tells us!

When we gaze with wonder at the cross  - at what  Jesus accomplished when He paid the price for our sin and redeemed us from the evil of Satan's work, that is hard to believe. But remember the other part of that "great exchange" that happened at the cross - God took our sin and no longer accounts it against us, but He then gave us the righteousness of His Son. He gave us garments of holiness in place of our garments of sin and despair.

We gave Him our garbage bag full of sin and guilt and hopelessness and anger and hurt and bitterness - a bag full of stinking  trash - He took it - and then gave us a gift back - a treasure chest full of riches - grace, mercy, forgiveness, joy, peace, innocence and the supreme, gift of all - His presence forever.

He exchanged our garbage bag for His treasure chest!  No wonder we have trouble imagining it!

So when He looks at us, He sees His Son, and that gives Him the greatest joy in the cosmos. 

And allows us to become an ingredient in His happiness.