To Live for the Smile of Another...

This morning as I read from the book of Isaiah, I wondered at our own state of service to God... have we brought Him pleasure, or been to Him a burden (Isaiah 1:14)?

So many times we lift verses such as these out of context in an attempt to relieve ourselves of the burden of sacrifice, only to realize later that both righteousness and sacrifice are called for by God. In the modern age of the "enlightened church," we often times relegate both obedience and sacrifice to a less mentally adroit age, and "free" ourselves to the satisfaction of our own devices.

There are certainly countless shortcuts devised in the pursuit of self-fulfillment, but I have found only one pathway of Life. It is slow and often arduous. It calls for my complete attention and sees my failures time and again as it beckons me onward, even from the pit of my own self-deprecating folly. It is uncompromising, but all-gracious to the penitent. It is simply as it has been and will continue despite the cries of fairness and enlightenment.

In the path which is Christ, I have found peace... and yet, peace calls me onward to a higher life. To some, the aspect of living so as to please another has become all-together vile and pedestrian; on the path which is Christ, however, I have found it to be the key to peace itself.

As I seek the pleasure of God, the smiles of my children become more anointed, like they're dripping with honey; the smiles of the eyes of my wife become more satisfying than the most self-satisfying fodder the world might have to offer; and the smiles of my God become more evident, and more fulfilling even amidst tumultuous circumstances.

I wonder today if I have pleased God with my life... if I have pleased Him with my love... if I have made the aroma of sacrifice sweet or burdensome. I pray it is the former and not the latter, and that it becomes more so as I travel on this Path. It is altogether undeniable that I have fallen short this day and can find success only in the grace covering of Jesus. Oh for the day when that covering shall produce its end result, and righteousness shall upon holiness stand fulfilled. Then shall the light of the pleasure of the Almighty be seen in its fulness; even as in Christ we know it through grace today.

Run well today.

In the Path and Peace of Christ,

Pastor John