I wrote this while driving down Highway 81 a week or so ago…
“There is something so comforting about familiar places. It’s a peaceful feeling. A contented feeling. An assurance that a traveler does not always mean a stranger. These familiar places hold memories - good memories, funny memories, bad memories - and in this way these places become a home to us in their own unique way. We neglect them as we do our home. We pine for them as we do our home. When we return to them after a long respite our souls suddenly flood with warmth in much the same way they do when we return home. Familiar places scream in barely audible whispers reminding us that our past still exists in our present. Not in a way that chains us, but in a way that pulls back the curtain of the here and now to show us where we’ve come from and assure us that we really are going somewhere … to assure us that God really is faithful.”
Monday, June 27, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
What It Takes to Please God
What pleases God most? Is it giving every penny that we have to missions and trusting Him to provide for our personal needs? Is it quitting our jobs and moving to a third world country where no one’s ever heard the gospel? Is it praying all day long? Is it taking to the streets and preaching the gospel? Is it any of these?
I think it’s interesting that we always equate pleasing God the most with serving God the most. The problem with this thinking is that it presumes that God’s greatest desire for our lives is proper behavior. It’s not. Selah
So many of us live with the crippling presumption that to please God we have to constantly be doing. Certainly doing the work of the Lord is a great thing but is it really what God is after?
Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus‘ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (emphasis mine)
Luke 10:38-42
What was Martha distracted from? Jesus. What was the one thing that was needed? Sitting at Jesus feet. Hearing Him speak. Getting to know Him. THIS is the pinnacle of pleasing God. Knowing Him. Loving Him. So while doing His work is certainly of great importance something else pleases Him more. Truly having a living, two-way relationship with Him. Not a cutesy, watered down phrase but a REAL friendship. A deep love.
So what pleases God most? Is it giving every penny that we have to missions and trusting Him to provide for our personal needs? Is it quitting our jobs and moving to a third world country where no one’s ever heard the gospel? Is it praying all day long? Is it taking to the streets and preaching the gospel?
I believe what truly pleases God the most is when we daily throw all of our energies into cultivating a living relationship with Him. The service will follow.
Jesus died so that we could know Him. Not so that we could serve Him. We serve Him because we love Him. Not because we have to.
Praise the Lord! :D
I think it’s interesting that we always equate pleasing God the most with serving God the most. The problem with this thinking is that it presumes that God’s greatest desire for our lives is proper behavior. It’s not. Selah
So many of us live with the crippling presumption that to please God we have to constantly be doing. Certainly doing the work of the Lord is a great thing but is it really what God is after?
Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus‘ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (emphasis mine)
Luke 10:38-42
What was Martha distracted from? Jesus. What was the one thing that was needed? Sitting at Jesus feet. Hearing Him speak. Getting to know Him. THIS is the pinnacle of pleasing God. Knowing Him. Loving Him. So while doing His work is certainly of great importance something else pleases Him more. Truly having a living, two-way relationship with Him. Not a cutesy, watered down phrase but a REAL friendship. A deep love.
So what pleases God most? Is it giving every penny that we have to missions and trusting Him to provide for our personal needs? Is it quitting our jobs and moving to a third world country where no one’s ever heard the gospel? Is it praying all day long? Is it taking to the streets and preaching the gospel?
I believe what truly pleases God the most is when we daily throw all of our energies into cultivating a living relationship with Him. The service will follow.
Jesus died so that we could know Him. Not so that we could serve Him. We serve Him because we love Him. Not because we have to.
Praise the Lord! :D
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