The Special of The Day...From the Orange Moon Cafe

Thursday, March 12, 2026

Orange Moon Thursday, March 12, 2026 “More Pleasure” Conclusion - “Pleasures Forevermore"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"More Pleasure"

Conclusion - "Pleasures Forevermore"

"The Lord taketh pleasure in His people."

(Psalm 149:4)

We conclude our consideration with a final and most wondrous thought regarding the marvel that we bear the capacity to please the heart of God more than He can please ours.

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11).

We exist for the pleasure of a perfectly unselfish Being (I Corinthians 13:5). What is His pleasure? Exactly what we would expect of One devoted to the blessing of others…

"That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7).

God made the human race to be the primary recipient and repository of His sublime character, nature, and way. He made us for the pleasure He finds in being good to us. The Apostle Paul declares we exist for the favored kindness of One so devoted to others that His beloved Son bears the wounds suffered to redeem those who insanely and wickedly turned away from Him. "When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son" (Romans 5:10). Eternity will not exhaust the goodness God will bestow on those who receive His freely given grace in the Lord Jesus, including perhaps the most glorious of all gifts…

"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).

God will forever be pleased as He sees the perfectly unselfish nature of the Lord Jesus revealed in us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2). Imagine - anticipate, actually - an eternity wherein multitudes of sons and daughters perfectly and increasingly shine forth with the wondrous devotion of the One who "came not to be ministered to, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). Every one of the redeemed will be completely devoted to loving God and others, finding fulfillment in seeking not their own, but in looking upward, outward, and away as the reflection of their Savior's wondrous attribute and attitude of altruism. Little wonder then that we will please God more than He pleases us as He sees Christ in us, and as both He and we would have it no other way. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matthew 13:43).

The redemption has already begun for those who believe in the Lord Jesus. The work is in progress. This day offers opportunity to "walk, even as He walked" in devotion to God and others (I John 2:6). We can please God as His unselfishness shines forth in our countenance, attitudes, demeanor, words, and deeds. The Christ who "pleased not Himself," and who so pleased His Father thereby, dwells and walks in us to lead us in such grace and glory (Romans 15:3; II Corinthians 6:16). This opportunity of a lifetime prepares us for the opportunity of forever, when God will so please us with everlasting kindness, but when, in the wonder of "Christ in you, the hope of glory," we shall please Him more (Colossians 1:27).

"Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy, at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore."

(Psalm 16:11)

Weekly Memory Verse

I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify Thy name for evermore.

(Psalm 86:12)

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Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Orange Moon Wednesday, March 11, 2026 More Pleasure” Part 4 - “The Double Pleasure"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"More Pleasure"

Part 4 - "The Double Pleasure"

"The Lord taketh pleasure in His people."

(Psalm 149:4)

God made human beings to serve as the spiritual dwelling place of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. "Christ in you, the hope of glory" declared the Apostle Paul of a reason for being that overwhelms the heart and boggles the mind upon any serious consideration…

"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).

This serves as the prime confirmation of our contention that we bear the capacity to please our Heavenly Father's heart more than He pleases ours. God's first view of every believer focuses on the the presence of Christ in us. It cannot be otherwise, considering He ever and forever acts according to "the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11). The purpose involved a sacrifice of sorrow, suffering, forsakenness, and death that surely means wherever the Lord Jesus is, the Father's primary gaze will rest upon Him. This includes every Christian's heart, wherein dwells the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9).

Indeed, find the most faithful and the most unfaithful born again believer on the planet in any moment. Ask our Father what He would say about either. His first response would be, "My Son dwells there." This does not discount the response of believers to Him. Our trust and obedience matters much, far more than we can imagine. Thereby, we either please or displease Him. However, it remains true that the fact of Christ's presence forever abides as primary in the Father's sight. Certainly, He not be pleased by our thoughts, attitudes, words, and deeds if we stray from Him. He remains pleased in the presence of our Savior, which does not, will not, and cannot stray from us. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). He is pleased with the Lord Jesus, wherever He finds Him, and forever pleased because He finds Him in us, again, the very reason for which He made us. "I will dwell in them, and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).

Little wonder then that we can please God more than He pleases us. He finds a double pleasure in believers, first and foremost in the Lord Jesus' presence in us, but also in the unique son or daughter birthed and enlivened by the Holy Spirit in salvation. Christ will eternally shine forth in every believer in varied and singular aspects of "the hope of glory." Mary will glimmer differently than Martha, David than Moses, John than Paul, you than me. Each of us bear particular potentials to please God's heart no other can fulfill. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered" declared the Lord Jesus of our uniqueness, which makes possible our particular capacities to please the heart of the Father as He sees Christ shine forth in so many and varied ways (Matthew 10:30). Yes, primary in the pleasure God finds in every Christian is the Christ He sees in all - "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6).

If it be possible and if it be true that we bear the capacity through Christ to please the heart of God more than He pleases ours - the double pleasure - then let us determine to give all to the pursuit. His' is a heart we have all so grieved, and a heart that made possible so wondrous a salvation. How can we do other than to forever "walk and to please God" by seeking to shine forth with the light of Christ to Him? (I Thessalonians 4:1). May it be said of us all, as it was long ago said of Enoch…

"He had this testimony, that he pleased God."
(Hebrews 11:5)