So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it - 2 Cor 5:9
(This was meant to be posted June 10th)
Simply stated, the goal of the Christian is to please God.
"Living a life that is pleasing to God" is simply a more theological way of saying "living life the way it is supposed to be lived."
Of course God does not need us to live a certain way in order for Him to be satisfied or vindicated in any way. God is perfect in Himself and has no need of anything.
Rather, He desires that we live a certain way, because by living in this certain way we will maximize our own joy and peace as well as the joy and peace of those around us.
If the entire human race lived in a way that was entirely pleasing to God, there would be no war, no disease, no pain, and no suffering.
In short, we would be living in heaven.
The Kingdom of God will not be characterized by a certain geographic location, it will be characterized by righteousness, holiness and purity.
God delights in righteousness and despises sin.
Herein lies our problem.
How can we - broken, sinful, deceived people - walk in a way that is entirely pleasing to God?
The answer is that we can't.
If we could, then Christ came to us for no reason.
The only man to have ever lived a life entirely pleasing to God was Jesus Christ.
At His baptism we hear the voice of the Father say, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matt 3:17)
So what is pleasing to God?
Jesus.
Who is pleasing to God?
Jesus?
How do we please God?
The only answer is Jesus.
We must take refuge in Him.
We must abide in Him (John 15)
He has already lived the righteous life that we never could. And He offers this perfect righteous life to us under one condition: We give our broken, tainted, unrighteous lives over to Him.
Perfection for brokenness.
Holiness for ugliness.
Righteousness for unrighteousness.
We'll never be offered a better deal as long as we live.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me - Rev 3:20
And yet most people in this world will ignore this knock at the door and choose to remain in their sin out of pride and deception.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil - John 3:19
If we want to experience untold favor, unfathomable peace, and supernatural joy that this world knows nothing of, we must let go of the ways of this world and walk the path that is pleasing to God.
And if we are to walk this path, we must tether ourselves - mind, body and spirit - to the only One who can walk it, and indeed already has walked it, to completion.
Then they said to him,
“What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
Jesus answered them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
- John 6:28,29
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