Who Do You Please?

Hmmm...

Who do YOU please? Who DO you please?

We all make choices that prove the answer to these questions. Yes, they are different questions, depending on where you place the emphasis.

"Who do YOU please?" is the question that brought me to write today. You see, whatever we do is motivated by a desire to please ourselves, others or God.

Which brings us to the question, "Who DO you please?" That's the $64,000 question!

When we get up in the morning, we make choices to get up on time or not, make time to read our Bible and pray, decide whether we'll fix others coffee, tea or breakfast, and whether we'll make it to work on time. Think about it...who (or Who) would be pleased by the different choices? By your actions, are you pleasing yourself? Others? God?

I make bad choices every day. Oh, I'm not feigning humility, here. It's true that my choices are not often between big issues of light and darkness such as drugs, theft or other immorality issues. They're usually simple ones such as making time for God vs sitting at the computer. Joking with friends or coworkers about someone else in order to impress them or keep them from making fun of me for being such a "goody-two-shoes" vs speaking up to remind those coworkers that "there but for the grace of God go I...or we" so that I can bring glory and not shame to God.

We must remember that we cannot stop the sowing and reaping process. Whether we sow good or bad things, we will reap the same. Usually, when the sowing and reaping topic comes up, we're talking about bad things but do you know that doing the right thing will cause you to reap the same?

I mean, can we talk? When I someday stand before God, I don't want to stand there with a bunch of empty excuses in my head. I doubt they'd sound valid even to ME once I'm standing in His presence, anyway. But it's for sure that no one else will stand up for me saying, "It's my fault, God. I tempted her. She was just trying to please me."

No, the only one standing on my side will be Jesus Who will say, "That's okay. I already took her punishment. She's already been forgiven for that...and that...and yes, that."

You may ask, "Hey, what'd you have to pay to get that forgiveness?" People may think that's why I try so hard to obey the rules and laws of this world and the Bible...to pay my debt. But this is a debt I could never pay. I didn't deserve God's mercy and forgiveness... and I received gifts I didn't deserve such as loving parents and a wonderful husband who loves me, but the greatest is complete and utter forgiveness...for ALL of MY sins! What's more, I've got God's Holy Spirit living IN me, teaching me, helping me, FILLING me! What a deal! The Bible says that God helps me WANT to do things that please Him and THEN, He enables me to DO them! What a GOD! He provides everything I need to do anything He asks of me. Guaranteed! I'll say it again, "WHAT A GOD!!!"

Is it any wonder I would want to please Him? Yet even though I WANT to please Him and am grateful for all He gives me every moment of every day, I too often choose to please myself or others, instead. He made sure that I had the choice to CHOOSE because He wouldn't derive any joy from a robot child who didn't choose to be in relationship with Him.  We've been given the freedom to choose and our Father will not revoke that right...so today I resolve again to choose to please Him, the One Who I will one day face and on that day, I look forward to seeing Him smile on me saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of Yehovah."