Do You Want to Please God or Trust God?

Two Paths.... Which One Will You Choose?

     I have been reading The Cure, by John Lynch, Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall.  They talk about two paths in the Christian life, the path of pleasing God and the path of trusting God. They suggest that most Christians choose the path of pleasing God in their life. It certainly sounds good. We all want to please our heavenly Father. But pleasing God rests on the premise that I must do the right things to make God happy with me, my life, my work, my family, etc.

     The other path, trusting God, is much more difficult to comprehend and, because of that, is the less chosen path. What am I supposed to do to trust God? What does trusting God even mean? How will I know when I am trusting Him? Trusting God means knowing that we can't please God, but that God has made us pleasing to Him. It is knowing that I can't do anything to change the circumstances in my life, but He can. It means getting to the point where we say, I know I can't do anything about this Lord, but I know that you can.

     I have come to this point many times in my life. I have hit a roadblock in life where I have tried and tried to resolve things and it just isn't getting better. Then I just have to sit back and say, OK God this one is for you... I tried. I can't make do it on my own. You take over. But wait.... Is that trusting God? Do I only trust God when my own efforts fail?

     I hope that one day I can trust God BEFORE I run out of my own options. I have some big ideas for future ministry. I have a great passion for telling others about who Jesus is. But my greatest desire right now is that I can trust God to take my ideas and desires, and mold and shape them into what He wants them to be. That's a tough thing, because if things are not going the way that I have them envisioned in my head, then I feel like a failure. Why? Because I am trying to please God?

     So.... Are you pleasing God or trusting God in your life?

Doug