God Takes Pleasure in Your Holiness Even When It Feels Small

Does God delight in me?

It’s a question that hovers in the hearts of many believers. For some, it’s a quiet ache born from scrupulous self-doubt. For others, it’s a theological tension: If I’m already justified by faith in Christ, how could anything I do possibly increase God’s delight in me?

And yet Scripture answers with a resounding yes God does delight in His people. Not just in theory or someday when we’re perfected in glory, but now, in our daily walking, our faltering steps of faith, our striving for holiness.

A Prayer That Captures God's Heart

Robert Murray M’Cheyne once prayed, “Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made.” This short but striking plea captures what God Himself desires for His people. Holiness is not optional for the Christian life it is central.

“This is the will of God, your sanctification.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3
“Be holy in all your conduct.” 1 Peter 1:15
“Strive… for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14

Holiness is not the heavy yoke some imagine. It’s not bland, boring, or burdensome. True holiness shines it reflects the very beauty and glory of God. As Sinclair Ferguson writes, to be made holy is to be “repossessed” by God, set apart to reflect His own radiance and wonder.

Dispelling the Hoaxes

Still, our understanding of holiness is often clouded by misperceptions. For some, it conjures up stale images of rigidity, ritual, or joyless perfectionism. But these are distortions, not the biblical picture.

• Holiness is not bland: Scripture calls it “splendid” and “beautiful” (1 Chronicles 16:29). It pulses with life.

• Holiness is not ritual: It penetrates soul and body, shaping every facet of daily life (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

• Holiness is not unreachable: Jesus calls us to it not as a far-off ideal, but as a way of life moment by moment, decision by decision.

In fact, holiness is deeply practical. It governs how we think, speak, rest, spend, parent, love, forgive, and work. There is no arena of life where holiness doesn’t belong.

And this holiness, however small it seems, makes God happy.

Can God Really Be Pleased With Me?

This is where many wrestle. If we are already justified declared righteous in Christ does it even matter how we live? Doesn’t God already delight in us because of Jesus?

Absolutely. Our status before God is grounded forever in the finished work of Christ. We are clothed in His righteousness (Colossians 3:12), sanctified (1 Corinthians 6:11), and adopted as beloved sons and daughters. But Scripture also shows another layer of God's relationship with us. His fatherly pleasure in our obedience and holiness.

• We can please God (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

• We can grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).

• We can be found fully pleasing to Him (Colossians 1:10).

• Even a child’s obedience is described as “pleasing in the Lord” (Colossians 3:20).

These verses aren’t contradictions to grace; they are fruits of grace. God’s delight in our holiness is not in tension with our justification it flows from it.

He Delights Even in Small Steps

What about when our holiness feels small? What about the days when sin still seems so near, and our progress seems so slight?

God sees more than the moment. He sees the whole story. “Christ values us by what we shall be, and by what we are elected unto.” Richard Sibbes

Like a gardener who delights in the first bloom of spring, or a parent who cheers for wobbly steps, God rejoices in even the beginning of growth. He delights in the acorn for what it will become, not just what it is.

The fruits of holiness generosity, purity, prayer, gentleness, courage may seem ordinary, but they rise before God like a fragrant offering (Philippians 4:18). These are not tokens. They are the outworking of His Spirit in us. And He takes joy in them.

Why Holiness Pleases God

Holiness brings God pleasure because it’s the work of His own hands. Our sanctification is Christ being formed in us (2 Corinthians 3:18). It’s the image of His Son restored in cracked and clay vessels. It’s the fruit of the Spirit flourishing where sin once reigned.

More deeply still, holiness pleases God because at its heart is joy in God. Holiness is not rule-following it’s love. It’s worship. It’s longing for God above all else.

The holy cry of the Christian heart is: “You are my portion, O Lord!” (Psalm 119:57). It is the echo of Paul’s longing: “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). It is the desire to flee broken cisterns and drink deeply from the only fountain that satisfies (Jeremiah 2:13). It is the joy of saying, “Your commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

This kind of holiness is not just right it is radiant.

• It is beautiful a reflection of divine love.

• It is practical rooted in everyday faithfulness.

• It is joyful sourced in God Himself.

And when God sees it in us, however faintly, He smiles.

A Prayer That Transforms

So go ahead. Pray it today “Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made.”

And know this: That prayer pleases God. Not because your holiness is perfect, but because it’s real. Because it's born from grace. Because it's shaped by love. And because it reflects the joy He designed you to find in Him.

The more holy you become, the more your life declares that God is your greatest treasure. And nothing brings Him more delight than that.

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