What makes the Master (Jesus) happy?

I love that not only do we get to make God happy, but that He invites us to share in that happiness with Him. We celebrate together and as we do, the relationship deepens and grows. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please God, so faith and faithfulness are important. In a way, being faithful means that we are so "full of faith" that it spills out in the way we live. I have been sharing with a few folk recently how Jordan Peterson likes to say when asked if he is a believer or Christian, "l seek to five like it is true'. In other words, he is echoing perhaps what James says when we read, "faith without works is dead".

I love that not only do we get to make God happy, but that He invites us to share in that happiness with Him. We celebrate together and as we do, the relationship deepens and grows. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please God, so faith and faithfulness are important. In a way, being faithful means that we are so "full of faith" that it spills out in the way we live. I have been sharing with a few folk recently how Jordan Peterson likes to say when asked if he is a believer or Christian, "l seek to five like it is true'. In other words, he is echoing perhaps what James says when we read, "faith without works is dead".

Now this is not to say that we are working to become good enough for God but rather, we are working because God has already made us good enough to work! Such 'faithfulness', with whatever it is that God has generously given to us through grace, is what He desires as much as anything. We see that in the way that Jesus lived, delighting to do the Fathers will, incapable of anything apart from the Father (cf. John 5:30).

Recently I've been listening to a golf teacher about increasing your swing speed in order to hit the ball further (than Wayne!) He talked about how are muscles are composed of different twitch fibers and the only way to trigger more power through these fibers, is by swinging to our max capacity so that the brain realizes we need help! But if we swing 'within ourselves', in other words comfortably within our capabilities, then that increased potential is never tapped into and we stay the same.

As I listened to this, I felt the Lord speak to me as to the parallels in the spiritual life, and especially as it relates to pleasing the Father. God invites us to live like Jesus, doing what is only possible with God, and certainly impossible if we rely on our own strength, ability and capacity. But is that not true about the whole of the Christian life ... a supernatural life lived in communion with the Creator of all things and through whom all things are possible ... if we believe!

This week my grandson (adopted) posted a video on instagram of him doing a standing back flip (click here to see it). I found myself thinking about what it took to get to the point of being willing to try something challenging like this (physically) that he had never done before. He's fairly athletic but he had to be willing to risk not quite making it round and hitting the ground! Presumably he believed it was possible but then set about working his way towards being willing and able to take the risk.

So how is the Father inviting you to be stretched, to go beyond what you feel comfortable with, in order to multiply the gift you have been given into the lives of others? Where do you tend to pull back from the brink of faithfulness and why is that? How might we become shaped and empowered more by the promises of God in His word and the power of God through the Spirit and our abiding in Jesus?

With love and prayers,

Pastor Mike