Pleasing Him

2 Corinthians 5:⁹ Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

I've noticed, as I get older, that having things my way is less and less satisfying.  After more than 60 years on this little planet I am aware that to pursue my wants and desires, to please my appetites is shallow, hollow and unfulfilling.  


In the world I live in the core ambition of those around me is self-gratification, satisfying self, and it's empty.  As Paul writes to the Corinthians he writes these words that captivate me with their simplicity- whatever my circumstance my ambition should be to please Him, to please God.  In that ambition, in that quest, we find endless possibilities, endless joy as we pursue what pleases the one who made us.


I'm discovering that this ambition, this quest to please God is fulfilling because it's what we were made for, it's how we were designed.  God built us to find our greatest joy in bringing him joy.  Imagine that.  And yet, in the world around me I see people busy with ambition to satisfy themselves and they are utterly miserable, unfulfilled, unhappy....because self-gratification is endlessly empty.


Therefore, we have as our ambition to be pleasing to Him.  Pleasing the one who made us because in that quest we find our greatest joy.  It's what we were made to do.