Jesus walked the planet the last three years of His life telling people who He was and backing it up with signs and wonders.

He actually told us we didn’t have to believe that He was the Son of God if He didn’t do miracles.

“Do not believe Me unless I do what My Father does” (John 10:37).

But for His first thirty years, Jesus—God the Father revealed, perfect theology, perfect ministry, Love in human form, the Creator of the universe—lived among humanity and only a handful of people knew it.

We might be tempted to think that Jesus’s first thirty years were not as significant as the last three simply because we have no miracles to measure Him by. However, I think those first thirty years are the reason He lived like He did the last three.

I would like to suggest that Jesus spent those formative thirty years becoming sure in His Father’s love.

And so we find Jesus at the age of thirty on the shores of the Jordan River where He meets John the Baptist and is submerged beneath the water. The heavens open, a dove descends, and a voice like thunder rumbles, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).

And the question has to be asked. Why was the Father pleased? What had Jesus done?

And that’s just it—we don’t know. But whatever it was, it sure blessed the Father.

I would like to suggest that Jesus spent those formative thirty years becoming sure in His Father’s love. Those first thirty years were spent becoming sure in the pleasure of His Father.

For 30 years Jesus discovered His Father’s nature, and then discovered more of His Father’s nature, and then discovered more of His Father’s nature. For 360 months Jesus knew His Father’s love, and then knew more of His love, and more of His love. For 1,560 weeks Jesus grew in wisdom and favor until the absolute goodness of His Father was so deeply interwoven into His heart that it was the only reality He knew. For 10,950 days Jesus grew surer, and surer in His Father’s always-good love until He only knew His Father’s pleasure.

And then, after all that, in the fullness of time, Jesus gets an “attaboy,” a “Well-pleased.”

Jesus got a “well pleased” before He did anything! He got a “well pleased” before He turned water into wine before He walked on water before He made more food out of less. He got a “well pleased” before He healed the blind eye, the deaf ear, the lame, or before He cleansed the leper. He got a “well pleased” before He cast out demons and set people free. He got a “well pleased” before He raised the dead.

He got a “well pleased” before He went into the wilderness, before He raised up world-changing disciples, before He went to the cross, before He rose, before He saved all of humanity and set us free from the slavery of need. He got a “well pleased” before He ascended and then descended in the form of the Holy Spirit to release us into a brand new, one-of-a-kind, intimate revelation of His perfect love.

“I am convinced that when we get to heaven and we get a ‘well pleased’ or ‘well done,’ it won’t be for how hard we tried, or even for what we did; it will be for how sure we became in our Father’s love. The doing will simply be the evidence that we believed He loved us.”

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I believe all the beautiful works Jesus did over the last three years of His life were the evidence of the first thirty years of becoming sure in His Father’s always-good love, His Father’s pleasure.

And just before Jesus ascended to heaven, after the resurrection, He told us we would experience greater works than He did. And it wasn’t some hope for us, it was a promise. Jesus looked into the future and saw sons and daughters sure in the Fathers love, discovering His pleasure, and doing miracles that transform the world just like He did.

There is something astoundingly transformative about discovering the Fathers pleasure, His perfect love for us.  For those who wish to make an impact on this world, it is the most important thing. Discovering our Fathers perfect love and good pleasure over us is what will empower us to give as Jesus gave.

“There is something astoundingly transformative about discovering the Fathers pleasure, His perfect love for us.  For those who wish to make an impact on this world, it is the most important thing. Discovering our Fathers perfect love and good pleasure over us is what will empower us to give as Jesus gave.”

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I am convinced our only responsibility on this earth is to grow surer in our Fathers good pleasure, His love. I am convinced that when we get to heaven and we get a “well pleased” or “well done,” it won’t be for how hard we tried, or even for what we did; it will be for how sure we became in our Father’s love. The doing will simply be the evidence that we believed He loved us.

I believe God loves us, He is pleased with us, and we are all learning to believe it, and live surer each day, prone to love. And this is what will change the world.

Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

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