Making it Our Aim to Please God

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-10 ESV)

Who is the audience here? It is all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, in truth and in righteousness and not in lip service only. We are all who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to righteousness, in obedient walks of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and in holy and righteous living, by the grace of God.

For all of us who love the Lord Jesus, and who are walking in his ways and in his truth, although right now we live on the earth in these fleshly bodies, one day we will be received into God’s eternal kingdom either by death or by him returning and taking his faithful bride to be with him for eternity. But while we are still living in these bodies of flesh we groan, because we long to be in our glorified bodies and with our Lord for eternity. 

So, why do we groan? Because life on this earth is hard. In this life we go through trials and tribulations which test our faith. We go through pain and sorrow and loss of loved ones. We are persecuted for the sake of righteousness and for our walks of faith. We have people who turn against us who hate and mistreat us. And we have people we know who abandon us and who do evil to us and who lie to us and who betray us. And it hurts!!

And so sometimes we just want to go home to be with the Lord forever and to not have to suffer any longer. But we may not be prepared, though, for how that is going to take place. It would be nice if we would all just die in our sleep, but not everyone does. Many people throughout the world are dying physically in much pain because they have been shot or partially blown up or have been in a fire or they are starving to death.

So dying and going home to be with the Lord may sound nice, but the path to get there may be even harder than what we are presently facing. For the Scriptures teach that the closer we get to the end that the worse things will get. And they are pretty bad now, but they are getting worse by the minute. So, we need to prepare our minds and our hearts with the reality that, before our Lord takes us home, our suffering could massively increase beyond comprehension.

But we must not give up just because things got much harder, for they are only going to get much harder. So we need to keep our courage, in the strength of the Lord, and keep pressing on, and keep moving forward, and keep doing the will of the Lord despite how we are treated in return. But we are not going to understand it all. And this is where we have to walk by faith and not by sight, for we can’t look into the future and see everything.

So, our goal (aim) must always be to please the Lord regardless of our present day circumstances, and despite what is inevitable in our future. And don’t believe the lies that tell you that you don’t have to do anything to please the Lord. Absolutely not true! For the Bible clearly teaches us that we must live to please the Lord in all that we do, that works are required of us, and that we must obey him and his commandments to us (New Covenant).

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 5:9; 2 Co 9:8; Gal 5:6; Gal 6:8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 5:10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:9-14; 1 Thes 2:4; 1 Thes 4:1; 2 Thess 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:4,21; Tit 2:11-14; Tit 3:8; Heb 11:6; Heb 13:6; Jas 2:17; 1 Jn 3:22] 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Jesus will render to each according to his works. So we are to abound in the works of the Lord which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them. For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness and obedience to our Lord, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what we say.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Near the Cross  

Hymn lyrics by Fanny J. Crosby, 1869

Music by William H. Doane, 1869 

Jesus, keep me near the cross; 

There a precious fountain, 

Free to all, a healing stream, 

Flows from Calvary's mountain. 

Near the cross, a trembling soul, 

Love and mercy found me; 

There the bright and morning star 

Sheds its beams around me. 

 

Near the cross! O Lamb of God, 

Bring its scenes before me; 

Help me walk from day to day 

With its shadow o'er me. 

Near the cross I'll watch and wait, 

Hoping, trusting ever, 

Till I reach the golden strand 

Just beyond the river. 

In the cross, in the cross, 

Be my glory ever, 

Till my raptured soul shall find 

Rest beyond the river.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5gong-PNmY

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