Do you think God is pleased with your parenting right now?
That’s the question I’ve been asking myself. You need to know that I fall short in many ways. I wrestle with selfishness as a mother. I am often reminded of areas where I fall short (i.e., sin). Yet, I really do want to please God. I am reading his word, and working on teaching it to my children. I want them to know how good God is. I think as I look over the last few years I can see spiritual growth. Yes, I do believe I am pleasing the Lord, because I am free to do right. It is an encouraging thought.
Here is the passage I’ve been thinking on. It speaks of my position in Christ:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. [this is a description of the Believer, not a condition. See verse 9!) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:1-9
Clearly, Paul is making a distinction here: God condemned sin. There is no condemnation for Christians. Even though we do sin, it has been paid for. The trick, as Paul says elsewhere in Romans, is to take sin seriously, even as we rest in joy that we can please God in spite of our sin.
If you are a believer, and you know of sin, you must make it right. But God is faithful to restore the fellowship we enjoy.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 6-9
There is no condemnation! Let the joy of the Lord be your strength. Strengthen your weak knees, self! Get up! Run! Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Not at all a deep comment, but I had to share. I was sitting down at the computer and was going to waste time, when I saw the title of this post. My kitchen was in desperate need of attention. I thought, “Am I pleasing God” by wasting time when my house needs me? :)The answer, of course, being no, I now have a clean kitchen and a few less digital hours logged for the day.
That’s fantastic! You also clarify something I was struggling to articulate, that there’s an overall sense that my direction is pleasing to the Lord, and there’s day by day, in the trenches, decisions that please the Lord. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you have been called– not shallow at all. 🙂