Day 8/40: Planned for God’s Pleasure

The Lord takes pleasure in his people.
Psalm 149: 4a

So I have gotten to the point of the book where we find the first purpose of our life:
#1: We were planned for God’s pleasure. We exist for His benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight.

We are able to enjoy pleasure on earth because God made us in his image. He gave us five senses to enjoy the world around us. I am taking a minute right not to think about what my senses are experiencing at this exact moment. Sight: an endless lake with a gentle breeze moving the water with mountains in the background (I know, it is beautiful). Smell: fresh snickerdoodle cookies in the lobby. Hear: little kids playing checkers and my keyboard clicking away. Taste: soon it will be one of those snickerdoodle cookies but right now a glass of merlot. Feel: my hot laptop on my legs and the itchy fabric on the chair I am sitting in (currently in a resort in North Georgia for the weekend). This is a great place to really use the five senses to take in all the beauty God has created.

We please God through worship. Worship takes different meanings to different people. It is more than just the music, scripture, prayer, sermon...it is all of it and more! Real worship is about falling in love with Jesus. I think of the two main churches I have gone to in my life and how completely different they were. I also think about how I worshiped God in those two different environments. At Brentwood United Methodist, my childhood church, I worshiped best through the sermon. We had an incredible pastor, Dr. Olds, who lost his life to cancer. His battle with cancer was long and he preached each Sunday as though it may be his last. I can say, it was incredible to be part of his journey and to grow deeper in my faith because of the way God used him. I highly recommend you check out the following blog http://www.faithbreaks.org/! It has one of his last sermons as well as his book, which I turn to often for tidbits of wisdom from an old friend!

I think of the way I worship today and it is incredibly different than how I worshipped as a child or teenager. In fact, the church I go to today I could not stand for the first two years I went there but my friends went so I went with him. The place is huge and has “loud” music. It is funny how I have grown to not be able to imagine my life without Buckhead Church, especially the music. I grew up singing hymns with because I didn’t want to be embarrassed, nor did I feel the urge, I did not sing at the top of my lungs. Stand next to my at church tomorrow and I am singing as loud of God will allow my voice to be...thank goodness the music covers my voice! I am usually overcome with emotion because this music speaks to my heart and this is the way for me to worship. Here is one of my favorites and a song that is speaking to my life right now. (note, this is not my church but another great church in Atlanta)



I think one of the best examples of worship comes from a discussion over lunch with a friend, Laura. When she had her babies she took maternity leave but her husband continued working. Since he had to get up early in the morning and she was the one with the boobs, she would be the one to get up during the night to feed her daughter. She started to get resentful that every night she would have to get up from sweet dreams and feed. She started turning that time to worship time. She would listen to audio, sing worship songs, pray, read scripture...whatever her heart desired. Her little girls are now 2 and 4 and she told me there are many nights where she craves that time she would spend with God in the middle of the night. What an incredible way to worship God!!!

“Do everything as if you are doing it for Jesus.” That is profound when you think about all the things you do every day and all the people you come into contact with. This means treating customers as though they are Jesus, reacting to loved ones as though they are Jesus (that is really hard to do when in a disagreement with a significant other...I tried the other night and it was HARD), doing homework...all of the things we do throughout the day we should do as though we are doing it for Jesus. Challenge yourself to try that this week!