God is pleased with you

[Lamb]

When Jesus was baptized:

“And the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” Luke 3:22


When we are baptized:
"...for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Galatians 3:27


God is pleased with His Son...and in your baptism, you are clothed in Him and so God is pleased with you as well.

 

[Josiah]

Well.....


IN CHRIST, covered by Him, I'd agree.
In a sense, God looks at us THROUGH CHRIST, with glasses that are merciful, gracious and loving....seeing us via the Cross. We are "covered" by the Robe of Righteousness.


But I think there is a tension here:

God HATES us (Psalm 5:5 etc) because He disapproves of the sin that is ever present. "Hate" meaning to disapprove. Our sin "deserves" temporal and eternal punishment. God isn't going to wink at that.

God LOVES us because that is His nature, what He is. And this applies both to believers and unbelievers (For God so loved the world... God causes the sun to rise on the evil and just ALIKE). He is gracious.... GRACE means He blesses even those who deserve the opposite, He loves even those who deserve the opposite, He gives even to those who deserve the opposite. By grace we are saved. John 3:16

The CROSS is where these two realities meet: Sin is punished.... grace is extended. God passionately disapproves of us, God passionately loves us. The Cross proves both. Some Protestants will say "God hates the sin but loves the sinner" - that a bit simplistically (you can't separate sin from the sinner) but essentially conveys a truth.


God's richest blessings to you in this His New Year.




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