9.27.11

Ephesians 5:10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

My Thoughts

So often we go about our days...with only the day in mind... What do I need to do first, where do I have to be... who needs me for this ... who needs me for that... will I ever have time to get it all done?  Then there are the days that are our days...days that can be all ours... each person has their own way of treating those days... some of us love to just use it to be lazy, not worrying about anything that needs to be done, some of us cram all that we consider to be fun into them so they won't be wasted. So often a whole day passes by where we have lived the day without carefully determining anything.... How many of  us actually get up and "Carefully determine what pleases the Lord?" 

I know that I do my Bible reading  and say my prayers.  I do try to put God's word in my heart so that I can better please Him.  I try to be a good person.  I think that I may stop  at "hoping" that I please God. Hoping that what I learn settles in and makes a difference.  I have no doubt that learning about God, taking time to know God has changed me ... it has changed my life in amazing ways!  I think what I do is try to try. 

Right here in Ephesians it tells us to carefully determine what pleases God. Careful is defined as cautious in one's actions, taking pains in one's work, thorough, performed with accuracy, solicitously mindful of, about or in. Determine is defined as decided; settled; resolved. We need to decide, to be resolved to be cautious in our actions, mindful of others constantly aware of what we need to do to please God. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:36 to love God with all our heart, our soul and our mind and to love our neighbor as our self.  We need to carefully determine how we can love God today, how we can love our neighbor today.  We need to stop several times a day to determine what we can do that will please God. 

We have all thought at some point, just before we open our mouth, "I shouldn't say this." Then we keep going and say it anyway...what if we applied carefully determining what pleases God and instead ask ourselves "Would these words please God?" I believe that if we learned to ask our self that instead, we would often keep so many of our words to our self. 

If we will determine to carefully determine to please God, we can start with changing our "Should I?" into "Would it please God if I?"  Then we can move on from there and be mindful that we need be carefully  to carefully determine in all that we choose, do and say, to please God.