I found this devotional this morning and it made me stop and take a look at my relationship with the Lord. I have decided that I give more effort to "pleasing God" rather than "trusting" Him. Read this -- it's quite insightful:
TODAY’S VERSE “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)
TODAY’S MESSAGE In their book “True Faced” the authors pose this following scenario. “As we’re walking down life’s road, we arrive at a tall pole with signs pointing in two different directions. The marker leading to the left simply says Pleasing God. The one leading to the right reads Trusting God. It’s hard to choose one over the other, because both roads have a good feel to them. There is no third road. We must choose one.” At first glance it seems obvious to me. I want to “please God” more than anything. I want to bring Him joy and thank Him for everything He does. Or at least that is where my mind starts. In truth, who is “pleasing God” really about? Is it really about God and how much I want to thank Him by pleasing Him? Or is it really about me and how I want to make God happy with my behavior?
The real answer is we should take the “trusting God” fork in the road. Why? Because with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we already please God. Paul reminds us that we are saved by God’s grace, not by any of our own works. No behavior on our part could ever please God the way His own grace does. God loves us and we don’t need to earn it by “pleasing” Him. Instead, when we really realize what grace is all about, we will want to trust Him fully. When that happens, it will be our praise and adoration that pleases Him, not our vain efforts to gain His love.
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WOW...I think I just had an "ah-ha" moment! For many of us, we concentrate so hard on pleasing others that it naturally just rolls right over into our relationship with Christ. The fact that I accepted His precious gift of salvation pleases Him most. All I have to do now is trust Him. Sounds so simple....but can I do it?
fondly,
fit
1 comment:
OUCH! Good word this morning, Tona...good word. That nails most people doesn't it. We are raised in church with the mentality to "please God" and to keep working to win his favor or approval (especially in the LDBC days). Anyway, that is a great devotional.
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