Planned for God's Pleasure

Chuckle: "My sister has a lifesaving tool in her car designed to cut through a seat belt if she gets trapped. She keeps it in the trunk." Duh!!

Good Quote: "On the whole, God's love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for him." --C. S. Lewis

YOU WERE PLANNED FOR GOD'S PLEASURE

"You, God, . . . created everything, and it is for Your pleasure that they exist and were created" (Revelation 4:11 NLT).

Several years back, Rick Warren wrote two best-selling books: "The Purpose Driven Church" and "The Purpose Driven Life." I encourage you to read both of these books. In the second book, Dr. Warren identifies and elaborates on five Biblical purposes for the life of every human being. Mankind is no accident, and was created by God for God's purposes. Using "Meditations on the Purpose Driven Life" as a guide, I want to share some of the highlights of the book with you.

The first purpose for your life is to give God pleasure. Contrary to the way some of us act, God does not exist to give us pleasure, although he does so in unbelievable ways. As you study the Bible, you cannot miss the central thread running through its entirety -- that God loves you with an indescribable kind of love. The Bible tells us that God is love -- love is central to his character -- the essence of who he is. When God created you, he made you the object of his love. You were made to be loved by God -- that's your number one purpose. . . . We were planned for his pleasure of loving us and having us love him in return.

The Bible also tells us we are made in God's image. We are unlike any other creature in all of creation. We alone are privileged to have God love us and given the capacity to know God and to love him in return. The most important thing you can know in life is that God loves you. He knows everything about you and he still loves you. In Jeremiah 31:3 NIV, the Lord says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness."

The most important thing you can do in life is to love God in return. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38). His deepest desire is for you to know him and love him in return. One of the ways we show our love for God is in our worship. "The Lord is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love" (Psalm 147:11 CEV). Anything we do that pleases God is an act of worship.

Here is a great prayer for each of us: "God, if I don't get anything else done today, help me to know you a little bit better and to love you a little bit more. If, at the end of the day, I know you a little bit better and I love you a little bit more, I will have not wasted this day. On the other hand, it won't matter what else I've done or left undone, if I missed the first purpose of my life. So help me, Father, to know and love you more today." --Rick Warren

Have a great day as you reflect on God’s purpose for your life!

Love, Jerry & Dotse