God-Pleasers

Do you live to please God?  If you think about the shortness of life, isn't it kind of silly that we live our lives to please anyone but God?  Think about it.  Who am I and what can I do?  Who are you and what can you do?  If I please you, how will that help me?  Neither of us have more than a few years to live.  And neither of us have more than a little bit of ability, strength and opportunity.  We are just finite beings...a vapor that lasts just a short time.  And if I live to please me, how will I enjoy anything for long...I don't even know that I will live to see another birthday.

This is true for every human on the planet.  We are a clock ticking.  Tick-tocking toward the day when we tick-tock no longer.  Heb 9:27 says...And just as it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment...(NLT).  God gives us just one life and we have no one to fear but him.  Ultimately, we shouldn't fear men.  Jesus said, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more." Luke 12:4-5  (NIV)

Think about the worst mistake you ever made.  Who were you trying to please?  Chances are, it wasn't God.  It was yourself, or someone whose opinion you thought was important.  I'm not suggesting that you become callous to the needs of others, just that you put God first always. 

You see, we humans have a natural tendency towards self-promotion.  Call it survival instinct.  Call it ambition.  Dress it up anyway you can to take the edge off the truth: we promote self.  And self feels better when self has the approval of others. 

Yet, God has placed a blessing on us, stating through Paul...there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.  Isn't that blessing enough?  Isn't it enough that the God of the universe has said, 'today, you are my son (or daughter)!'? 

Do we really have to please anyone else?  Not really.  I wonder why we try so hard.  Who are you living to please?  Is it satisfying?  Are you feeling rewarded and fulfilled?  My prayer is that we would all become God-pleasers.  After all, He is the only One who really matters.