Pleasing God

Yesterday was my son Cooper's birthday. He turned the big age of 6. Whoa! My wife asked him what he wanted for his big birthday meal. He sat and thought for a moment. He said green beans and meatballs with no sauce. Margaret and I have been on a diet for the last several weeks. One of the first nights on the diet, she fixed green beans and meatballs with no sauce. He liked it. Still, knowing my son, I knew that was not one of his favorite meals. So we made sure to make him understand, he could choose anything for dinner not just Mommy and Daddy's diet food. At that point he quickly changed his mind. We ate hot dogs, mac & cheese, and green beans with cookies for desert. I sat down and thought last night about this, and wondered about my son's love for his parents. He didn't go all selfish and crazy when we first asked him what he wanted for dinner. He knew the things we have been eating over the last several weeks to get healthy. He was willing to sacrifice his choice of a meal for us to continue our diets. Sometimes, I think when it comes to us as Christians we get to stuck on trying to do stuff to make God happy when in actual reality he just wants us to be happy.

Psalm 37:4 says Delight yourself in the Lord and, he will give you the desires of your heart. Basically, if you love God and do the right stuff then the things you want to do in this world will fall into place. I know people that will go around wondering about the perfect will of God. We think, maybe this thing I want to do just isn't what is going to make God happy, it isn't in his "perfect" will. Even though it is not sin nor is it something that could lead us down a road headed toward sin. Things that make us grow, things that help people, or things that are genuinely good God wants you to do if it is your desire. He just wants our worship. He just wants our faithfulness. He mostly wants our love. Cooper didn't think he had the option of picking fat foods because the previous few weeks our diets did not allow it. All I wanted for him was to have a great birthday meal. All God wants for us is to be happy. Cooper didn't need to please us, but his love for us made him want to. If we show God our love then he is going to give us the things that we want. It would probably surprise you how often that lines up.