Delight

For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.
Psalm 149:4

One of my great joys of being a pastor is participating in baby dedications. I love the fact that it serves as a powerful reminder of one of our most basic doctrines: Every one of us is made in the image of God. I also love walking a baby down the ilse of the church for all to see because it instantly changes the mood of the service. It doesn’t matter if the sermon was too long or a little boring, if I walk a baby down the isle for all to see, everyone leaves happy. Babies just have a way of changing things. The grumpiest of people brighten up a little bit. The most serious make fools of themselves as they ooh and ah over the child.

One of my favorite passages in Kathleen Norris’s writings helps me think of these moments in a new light. She spoke of an occasion in an airport when a baby was entertaining a group of strangers with his smiles. She noted how the baby seemed to erupt in delight anytime “he recognized a human face, no matter whose it was, no matter if it was young or old, pretty or ugly, bored or happy or worried-looking.” In an unusual twist, she then compared the way this infant indiscriminately delighted in another’s humanity with the way God must look at us. God looks at our faces so that he might delight once more in those he has made and called good.

Norris goes on to encourage, “And as Psalm 139 puts it, darkness is nothing to God, who can look right through whatever evil we’ve done in our lives to the creature made in the divine image. . . I suspect that only God, and well loved infants can see this way.” We’ve grown old in our sin, as G.K. Chesterton once put it. And in our old age we judge one another upon external appearances and past offenses. But God, who is sinless and pure, is eternally young. And like a well loved infant, God continues to look at us and truly see our humanity, his image, and it makes him smile with joy.

This Christmas, as we meditate upon the Christ child, may we delight in the face of God. May our delight be a small reminder of the astounding promise that Christ brings: God delights in you!