Revelation 4:11 reads "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." What an awesome thought - that in the eternal mind of the all- wise, perfect, sovereign God of Heaven, we were created for HIS pleasure!
Does that not add new meaning to our everyday complaints and unfulfilled expectations? Does it not cause us to stop and ponder whether or not our lives are accomplishing the very reason for our creation?
We know, of course, that the purpose first met with rebellion in the garden of Eden, when our first parents chose to please themselves rather than the One Who had created them for fellowship with and purpose in Himself. God, in His mercy, love and grace provided the way of reconciliation in the Person of His
Son, sending Him to shed innocent blood for the guilty. Having been redeemed by grace through faith, 1 Thessalonians 4:1 reminds us that we now are to walk and to please God, increasingly more and more. Actually, 2 Peter 1:9 reminds us that if we do not have the qualities of life that please God, we have forgotten that we were purged from our sins, and our spiritual lives will be barren and unfruitful.
Thus, our one goal in our lives, is to do that for which we were both created and redeemed - to please God. How can we define just how that can be measured biblically? In looking back at Jeremiah 29:11, we see that God's thoughts of us are of peace, not evil, to being us to an expected end. What is the expected end? Romans 8:28-29 teach us that the ultimate good end of all that God is working out in our lives is that of conformity to His Son. Therefore, to the same degree that we are more and more like Jesus Christ, to that precise degree we are more and more pleasing God.
How can we measure Christ-likeness? I like to take a close look at my ABC's, that is my Attitudes, my Behavior, and my Communications to see if they are what was modeled by the Lord Jesus. In my attitudes, am I thinking like He thought? In my behavior, am I walking as He did? In my communications, am I talking in ways that imitate Him?
What a joy and blessing to know that we are enabled by the power of His Spirit to live victorious lives that demonstrate Christ-likeness to our world, if only we will walk in the Spirit and follow the admonition of Christ in Matthew 22:37-39, in that we love God in the sacrificial submission of obedience and love others in the sacrificial service of ministry.
(c) 1993, 2012 N.A.Collins Limited copy permission for one personal copy
Does that not add new meaning to our everyday complaints and unfulfilled expectations? Does it not cause us to stop and ponder whether or not our lives are accomplishing the very reason for our creation?
We know, of course, that the purpose first met with rebellion in the garden of Eden, when our first parents chose to please themselves rather than the One Who had created them for fellowship with and purpose in Himself. God, in His mercy, love and grace provided the way of reconciliation in the Person of His
Son, sending Him to shed innocent blood for the guilty. Having been redeemed by grace through faith, 1 Thessalonians 4:1 reminds us that we now are to walk and to please God, increasingly more and more. Actually, 2 Peter 1:9 reminds us that if we do not have the qualities of life that please God, we have forgotten that we were purged from our sins, and our spiritual lives will be barren and unfruitful.
Thus, our one goal in our lives, is to do that for which we were both created and redeemed - to please God. How can we define just how that can be measured biblically? In looking back at Jeremiah 29:11, we see that God's thoughts of us are of peace, not evil, to being us to an expected end. What is the expected end? Romans 8:28-29 teach us that the ultimate good end of all that God is working out in our lives is that of conformity to His Son. Therefore, to the same degree that we are more and more like Jesus Christ, to that precise degree we are more and more pleasing God.
How can we measure Christ-likeness? I like to take a close look at my ABC's, that is my Attitudes, my Behavior, and my Communications to see if they are what was modeled by the Lord Jesus. In my attitudes, am I thinking like He thought? In my behavior, am I walking as He did? In my communications, am I talking in ways that imitate Him?
What a joy and blessing to know that we are enabled by the power of His Spirit to live victorious lives that demonstrate Christ-likeness to our world, if only we will walk in the Spirit and follow the admonition of Christ in Matthew 22:37-39, in that we love God in the sacrificial submission of obedience and love others in the sacrificial service of ministry.
(c) 1993, 2012 N.A.Collins Limited copy permission for one personal copy
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