“ “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him…If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” “ John 14:15-23
If you’re totally honest with yourself, and keep in mind anyway that the Lord knows your heart, do you make your decisions based on what will please you, what will please others, or what will please the Lord?
One morning I was contemplating my desperation to please God. Yes, desperation. I am desperate to please Him. My flesh most assuredly rears its ugly head periodically, demanding me to please myself like when it comes to eating a whole pint of frozen low-calorie dessert in one sitting, yum, but for the most part I’ve come to a point in my walk with the Lord in which I feel utterly desperate to please Him in all that I say and do.
Why am I so desperate to please Him? He has purified my heart greatly. No longer is it because I feel I must earn His love, His mercy, His forgiveness, His attention, His approval, His validation, His acceptance, His grace. I know better now. None of that can be earned. It comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died to pay the penalty for our sins. Nor is it any longer because I feel I must prove my love to Him, to convince Him of my love for Him. I know I can’t prove my love, and I know He already knows my heart. He knows my love. He knows me entirely. Nor is it any longer because I have to please the Lord, because I am obligated to please Him, because I am commanded to please Him. We are all commanded to please the Lord. That goes without saying.
I am desperate to please Him because the more I know Him, the more I love Him, the more I love Him, the more I want to be closer to Him, the closer I am to Him, the more I seek Him, the more I seek Him, the closer He draws to me, the nearer we are to each other, the more I love and adore Him, the more I want to honor and praise and serve and revere and glorify Him, the more I want to tell others about Him, the more I want to live for Him, the more I live for Him, the more hungry I am for Him, and thirsty for Him, the more I bring my hunger and thirst to Him in intimate fellowship, in time with Him, the more He fills me with His Spirit and His Word, the more He quenches my thirst, then I am hungry and thirsty all over again, hungrier and thirstier and craving and longing for more of His presence, the more I experience His presence, the more I am in awe of His magnificence and splendor and wonder and glory and awesomeness and amazingness and unfathomable love and mercy and His sovereignty and His character and His nearness and His spiritual riches and immeasurable treasures, the more I take pleasure in being loved by Him and loving Him and knowing Him, the more I desire Him, the more I desire to love Him and please Him and to thank Him and to praise Him and to obey Him, to express to Him my ever growing love and passion for Him, oh how desperate I am to please the one who loves me without measure, the one whom I love ever more forevermore, amen! My desperation to please the Lord is borne from my ever increasing intimacy with Him as Lord of my heart and life, and my overflowing love for Him!
Are you desperate to please the Lord, my friend? Repent, believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, make the Lord your all in all, have no higher priority nor desire than the Lord, hunger and thirst for Him, seek Him, yearn and long for Him, desire Him, crave Him, love Him, obey Him, oh love the Lord, my friend, know His love, know Him, dig deeply into the endless treasure trove of His Word daily, cling to Him, cleave to Him, hang on to Him, hold onto Him, draw closer to Him, honor Him, revere Him, know Him ever more, call Him Lord, act accordingly, live accordingly, worship Him with a sincere heart, praise Him with adoration, oh, friend, love the Lord, and be desperate to please your beloved, to please the one who died on the cross and was raised from the dead to bring those who repent and give their lives to Him to God almighty, oh please the Lord, dear friend, love and please the Lord, hallelujah!