Why Live to Please God?
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I recently had a discussion with a friend about the title of my blog, ‘Living to Please God’, and afterwards realised that it may be more misunderstood than I think!
It is really who I am and what I live for – my aim in life for a long time now has been to please God and it is my heart’s desire and simplifies everything. But it can seem like something that is legalistic or a duty that is called for, which is not where I am coming from at all.
God loves us as who we are – He loved us while we were still sinners, and He offers us the free gift of salvation with nothing we can do to earn it. We don’t need to earn His favour, and He doesn’t want us to feel like we HAVE to do anything.
I believe rather that He wants us to desire to live to please Him, not because we have to (we don’t), but because we want to. And that is the reason why I have changed the description of this blog to this beautiful verse which I hope sums up why I live to please God:
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 2 Cor 5:14,15
As my husband loves to say, ‘My life is not my own, I was bought at a price’.
God sent His only Son for us, He loved us while we were still sinners, He has saved us from sin and death and a empty life without Him, He has blessed us immeasurably, and He is preparing us a place in heaven where there is no pain, no sorrow, no heartache.
This makes me want to live for Him and serve Him and please Him!
Last night I was reading the Evangelism Explosion book and I thought it had a great explanation of the whole reason why we would want to live a godly life:
‘Why, then, should I try to live a good life? The reason for living a godly life is gratitude. I’m not trying to gain something I don’t have by my efforts to be good; rather I’m saying “thank you” for the gift of eternal life Christ has given me.’
We get to show our thanks to God by living in a way that pleases Him!
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Your title is lovely. We all must daily live to please God in all that we do.
Well said. Once we give our life to him, our whole life should be about pleasing God, not because we have to but because our life naturally overflows the presence of the Father. We cannot help but to please him! I love your blog title. Keep seeking him, keep please him!
Thanks anewsong, I certainly feel like that in my own life 🙂
Hi Heather, I love the way you put that – much more poetic than my explanation!
Thanks much, Rhoda. Good explanation.
Thanks for the link-ups too. Must check them out.