FRIDAY: LIVING TO PLEASE GOD
KEY PASSAGE
“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
DEVOTIONAL
“We aim to please!” is a common phrase used in customer service. It is a way of saying “we’re happy to help and we’re willing to do whatever it takes to assure the customer is satisfied”. There is a goal in mind: to please the customer. It would be silly to think of God as a customer, but as Christians, we have a goal. We aim to please Him. Everything we do in this life should be aimed at pleasing the Father.
2 Corinthians 5:6 brings up the fact that we are still living in this world, that we are “at home in the body” and therefore, “away from the Lord.” We aren’t living in the presence of God yet, but in faith, we know that day is coming (vs.7-8). So what should we do while we are still here? We set for ourselves the goal of pleasing God, no matter where we are, “whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
The problem is it is so easy to spend our time pleasing someone else. While we are “here” it is so much easier to chase validation and approval from people who are also “here.” How much of what you do is to please other people? Is your goal to please people? We should be God-pleasers, not people-pleasers. God’s will is perfect. So, the good news is if we aim to please God, it will end up being what’s best for people as well.
We make it our goal to please Him because what we do in this life matters to God. Our actions extend beyond our life, into eternity with Him. We will always serve God. He will always be worthy of our service, even after our lives end, when we are in His presence forever.
CHALLENGE
Sometimes it takes time to readjust and make God your focus.
Take a few deep breaths.
Allow God to examine your heart.
Pray and ask Him if there are any goals, mindsets, or patterns that have aimed you away from Him.
Who are the people that you are regularly feeling pressure to please?
Bring these names to the Lord and ask Him to help you reframe the way you serve them.