Mark Sorensen “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
–Matthew 3:16-17 (NIV)
What a moment this must have been.
Can you imagine? John has just brought Jesus out of the water and, no sooner than Jesus comes up, God can’t contain His enthusiasm. The heavens open, a dove descends, and God says, “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
We recently celebrated baptisms in church and I was rereading this passage when a thought occurred to me.
At this particular point in Jesus’ life, He was just beginning His ministry. He had not yet performed the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, He hadn’t turned water to wine, He hadn’t walked on water, and He had yet to command the wind and the waves to be still. Nope. None of it. So, what do we know? Let’s think of the life of Jesus as chapters in a book. If each year of His life were chapters, by this point in His story, He’d be at chapter thirty. Chapters one through twenty nine? Honestly, we know very little about. Little about, that is, with the exception of this: It’s clear that Jesus was committed to the one thing. That one thing?
He was committed to doing the will of His Father.
It’s on the other side of this commitment that we see God’s response: He was well pleased.
Maybe you’re not seeing big miracles in your life right now. Maybe you’re discouraged in your faith because the enemy has convinced you you’re not smart enough, not good enough, too imperfect, too stained, and too tarnished to ever be the disciple of Jesus you desperately want to be.
Don’t buy into that lie.
It was Jesus’ humble but intentional pursuit to seek after the heart of God that brought a smile to His Father’s face. And, you know what? When we do the same? I believe we get the same result as Jesus did.
Our Heavenly Father smiles, nods His head and says, “That one there? My child. Well done.”
