Today’s scripture:
1 - Therefore we make it our aim,
whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done
in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians
5:9-10)
2 - Will
the Lord be pleased with thousands
of rams…He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To
love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:7-8)
To be pleasing to God is
a heart issue. When you’re talking in the context of God, it always comes down
to the heart. You can give away thousands upon thousands of dollars a year to
good charities. You can teach bible school for years. You can lead
congregations in worship. You can even be a lead pastor to a mega church, but
if your heart is not in the place to be pleasing to God, then its all for
nothing! I’ve said it so many times before… “If our relationship is not right
with God and having His heart to be our desire, then He could care less about
the ministries we are involved in, because He is first after our heart and
everything else follows that.”
Today we are looking
into the ninth topic on the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus is teaching, which
is “Do good to please God”. In Matthew 6:1-4, Jesus says, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable
deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your
Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a
trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets,
that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their
reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what
your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your
Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”
It is a sobering thought
to take a look at ourselves and the good deeds we do and ask ourselves is this
pleasing to God? I mean, is my motive behind why I do the things I do for Him
or for me? Think about it for a minute because it’s real easy to say it is for
the right reason.
Think of this… If God
calls me to work behind the scenes as a janitor for 5 years were most of the
work goes unnoticed, but I know that it pleases God, am I content in that or do
I need to be noticed? Or, If He were to tell me He wants me to have a prayer
ministry by myself of praying for people in other countries and never seeing
any affects by it, would I still do it?
See, if your heart were
to please God, it wouldn’t matter because it wouldn’t be contingent on the
outcome or the recognition from men of what pleases God. All you would be
concerned about is if you are pleasing your heavenly Father! Like I said, it
always comes down to where your heart is at and your attitude is the aroma of
your heart. So, if your attitude is sour, that means your heart isn’t really
after God’s heart.
Reflection:
I would say this needs an
attitude of just being thankful. Thankful of what God has done in you and the
pit He has pulled you out of. See, when your grateful of the things He has
done, you WANT to please Him. It no longer is a desire to have men give you
praise or recognize that you are a good person because you have that
satisfaction and assurance that God holds great value on your soul! Do you want
to know how much of a value He has for you? How valuable is Jesus, His one and
only son? There is your answer… Your value is Jesus!!!
Challenge:
Make a gratitude list of
at least 50 things you are thankful for that God has done in your life. I have
done this myself and it truly does change your attitude. And also, don’t forget
to thank Him everyday multiple times a day of just who He is and Him loving
you. Thank Him for dying for you and for God sending His only son to be crushed
to death for you!
-Doug McGowan
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