August 31
“’And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.’” (John 8:29)
| FROM Conformed to the World | TO Transformed in Christ |
| 5. Consumed fleshly stimulation, pleasing ourselves, and the passing pleasures of sin | 5. Consumed with the pleasing God and the eternal rewards of obedience |
The next transformation we must make to enable us to overcome addictions to lust, pornography, and immorality is the transformation of pleasing God rather than pleasing ourselves. This is similar to some of the previous transformations we have explored, but I think there is a distinct and important nuance of this one that warrants focused attention.
The verse above is amazing to me, and very challenging to me personally. I can tell you that I did not grow up being trained in obedience, and I have spent the majority of my life in a state where I for the most part was not consciously thinking about pleasing God on a day to day basis. I was serving in the church and doing the things that I thought God wanted me to do. But my mode was along the lines of praying about major directions in life – such as what job to take or where to live or what ministries to get involved in – but I was never consciously thinking on a day to day or even minute by minute basis about pleasing the Lord. I mainly wanted to please myself, honestly, although I am not sure I was consciously aware that this is what I was doing.
In reality, the way I went about my business was to a large degree the way I wanted to do things. What I really wanted was to please myself and do what I wanted to do, the way I wanted it done, in my timing. And, of course, I wanted God to bless me in it. I was almost afraid to ask the question, “God, what do You want me to do?” because I was afraid to give up some of the things that I was doing that I wanted to do. I definitely could not have said what Jesus said, that “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”
I believe that if we want complete freedom from sin, we have to become transformed from Christians who are accustomed to doing their own will to those who are always seeking to know and do the Father’s will. That would pretty much help eliminate a lot of sin in our lives, don’t you think? But for most of us, this is a huge transformation that we are afraid and perhaps unwilling to make. If this describes you, a person unwilling to ask and do the Father’s will, then that is pointing at a root of sin in your life, a stubbornness and disobedience that you must address before you will progress much farther in your spiritual walk, in my opinion.
Why might we not want to know and do the Father’s will? I can think of several reasons that have been true of me: (a) I had things that I liked doing and wanted to do, not necessarily sin (but certainly sinful things would be included), that I did not want to give up, (b) I might be afraid of what God would ask of me, (c) doing God’s will probably would be uncomfortable, inconvenient, and costly. But all these reveal grossly immature thinking, short-sightedness, and a lack of faith and trust. Doing God’s will probably will be uncomfortable, inconvenient, and costly at times, but it will come with great joy and great reward. I have never, ever regretted serving the Lord, once I got myself out of my lazy comfort zone and got engaged, and looking back on my life, those have become the highlights and most blessed times of my life. Doing God’s will is the only thing worth doing. Likewise, I have never been glad that I sinned against Him and disobeyed His commandments, never. The pleasure of self-serving lusts was gone so fast it was slipping away while I was supposed to be enjoying it, followed by a life long memory of regret.
There really is no comparison to doing God’s will and serving ourselves. None whatsoever. Only deception keeps us thinking we will gain some lasting benefit from holding back our full obedience to Christ. Doing His will is exciting now and tomorrow and for all eternity! It is filled with joy inexpressible! What are we waiting for?
ASSIGNMENT: Pray that God would clearly reveal His will to you. Pray for the strength and ability to obey with a willing heart. Think through the benefits of obedience and the “benefits” of disobedience. Keep praying for a transformation in your heart and will to one of desiring to know and obey His will on a day to day, minute by minute basis, and to make that a strong desire and habit in your life.