When was the last time you told yourself you did a good job? Well, neighbor, that's too long.

For me it had been forty-three years. For all my determination to do a good job today and a better job tomorrow, I was missing the joy of the good today for the aspiration of a better tomorrow. Of course, you know as well as I do, tomorrow never comes.

Quick as a flash, Genesis 1 came to mind. I was struck as I recalled what God said to himself with each stage of his creative work. "This is good." The connect-the-dots puzzle in my mind was taking shape. Father is creating in me his characteristics. He was trying to tell me I had done a good job and get me to agree with him. After all, I had trusted him to guide me and express himself through me. As one warrior to another, He was simply celebrating after the battle by saying, "We did a good job, you and I."

Why am I so uncomfortable acknowledging that I did a good job? Once again, I am confronted with my old nemesis of legalistic thinking and living, served up on a golden platter by the devil: "If I can do better than I just did, sooner or later God is going to like me more than he does right now."

Can I really impress God with a better performance? No way!

It is impossible to increase God's pleasure in you. Make no mistake about it, God will encourage you to correct your course occasionally so your performance more accurately reflects who you are, but this has nothing to do with gaining God's favor. He accepts you as you are in Christ. Period.