Taking Aim

Dear Pastor, Preacher, or Bible Teacher –

Happy Day-After-Pentecost! I pray that today and all this week you can walk in the power and the strength of the Holy Spirit. We need it more today than ever.

Today, just a short thought from Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:9:

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent,
to be well pleasing to Him.

You’ve heard it before – “when you read a ‘therefore,’ find out what it is there for.” Before verse 9, Paul drew attention to eternity; being absent from our body and being present with the Lord. In light of that, we have an aim – and that aim is to be well pleasing to Him. Since what we do right now has eternal consequences, our goal must persistently be to please God.

This is our aim, whether present or absent. We can’t do anything right now about pleasing God when after this life we are absent from these bodies and present with the Lord. That day has not yet come. Yet we can do something about pleasing Jesus right now – when we are absent from His immediate presence and present in these bodies.

As far as we know, there are some opportunities for pleasing God that we will only have while we are present in these bodies. When we get to heaven, there will be no more need for faith, no more need for endurance through trials, no more need for courage and boldness in telling others about Jesus. Now, while we are present in these bodies, is our only opportunity in all eternity to please God in these areas.

So, take aim – make it your bold goal to be well pleasing to Jesus. The people liked your sermon – but was it well pleasing to Him? Your social media post got a lot of likes – but was it well pleasing to Him? Those movers and shakers in your church are pleased, but is it well pleasing to Him?

Take aim, dear servant of God! Remember what Alexander Maclaren said: “You report to headquarters. Never mind what anybody else thinks of you. Your business is to please Christ, and the less you trouble yourselves about pleasing men the more you will succeed in doing it.”

Blessings to You in Jesus’ Name – David Guzik

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