“So we make it our goal to please Him…” 2 Corinthians 5:9
The large woman wearing a maid’s uniform walked into my hotel room and breathed a sigh of relief. “Why, it’s already almost clean!” she said. “And it smells good, too!”
Before this encounter (years ago), I never thought of what those who clean hotel rooms must see on a daily basis. I can only imagine what some of the cleaning personnel must have to face.
Ever since that day, I can’t leave a hotel room without thinking about the person assigned to clean it. I make sure I draw the blinds to let in the light. I leave a tip. I remind myself that a tired worker is going to sigh or groan as soon as she walks in. I can’t do anything about the other rooms. But I can make sure mine feels welcoming in comparison.
In a way, our homes are like that with God. He “walks” in and either groans with frustration or sighs with satisfaction.
How about we make Him sigh with satisfaction?
Think of all the horrible, vile things our God witnesses on a minute-by-minute basis.
A child dying of abuse or hunger.
A wife betrayed yet again though she hasn’t found out yet.
Children used as sexual playthings. Children.
An addict putting himself through hell and destroying his health day by day on a steady march toward a premature death.
A family cheated out of their life’s savings so another man could pad an already large bank account.
Terrorists who mistakenly think they are serving Him by plotting to kill people they don’t even know.
In one sense, it must be such a heavy burden for God to see all the evil, feel the hurt, and bear the burden of how destructive we can be to ourselves and to each other.
So what if we all decided to please God today by loving others—beginning with our families–especially well? As much as God hates domestic abuse, he loves a man speaking tenderly to his wife and making her feel cherished. He smiles when a child is tucked into bed, prayed with and over, and goes to sleep without fear. How He thrills at the thought of one of His sons receiving respect and affection from a wife.
God has to witness some awful, awful things. Let our homes be places where he likes to look. As He moves to correct evil, may He boast of the love in our homes as he boasted of Job: “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (Job 1:8)
Imagine God talking to the angels: “Have you noticed Sarah? Every day she asks me how she can better love her husband, my son. And when I put a thought in her mind, she does it, with a glad heart.”
“Have you seen the way Adam rushes home to his family? He could take his time have a few drinks afterwards with the boys as so many men do, but he knows that Lindsey is tired with her new pregnancy and his boy wants to start playing catch so he starts watching the clock as soon as it’s 4:30, knowing he’ll be out the office door at 5:01…”
“And what about Jadyn and Makayla? How could I not bless their business? Did you see what they did for their workers last Christmas? And that one employee who had a family member get ill? It made me cry to see them become the two parents that worker never had. She practically raised herself; I counted down the days until she showed up at Jadyn and Makayla’s restaurant knowing they’d love her like she had never been loved before.”
How can you bring a smile to God’s face today? How can you make Him want to boast to the angels?
Who can you love to make God especially happy?
Cristina says
wow… I want to make God proud too.
Katie says
I purposed to have this mindset going into multiple family gatherings on/around Christmas Day. Wow! It was the best Christmas I’d had in a long time…and the only difference I can speak to was, simply, me. When I please my Father by loving His kids, I’m happy too!
Skye says
What a great perspective offered here!
I know my home is a place that I love to come to at the end of the day….and when I am away for a few days, my heart aches for it.
I hope the Lord smiles when He sees the way we treat one another here…I imagine He does…and we probably give Him a few laughs too!
Joanne says
Very thought provoking. Thanks for making me think.