What Does God Want?

Especially since the day The Lord saved my soul, I have had a strong desire to serve Him.  It has been my goal to consistently attend church, study scriptures, set a Godly example for my children and love people the way God instructs me to.  One day as I was reading through a familiar a scripture, I discovered that God is pleased with our faith and not necessarily with a perfect performance!

I read in Hebrews 11:6 that “without faith it is impossible to please Him:  for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of him that diligently seek Him.”  Wait a minute!  I thought that the better or near perfect my performance was, the more it pleased God!  I reread the verse, “without faith it is impossible to please Him…”  I could attend church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, study scriptures for hours, and try to be perfect; however, without faith I could never please God!

For years I was taught and graded by tests in elementary, junior high, senior high schools, and college.  I strived for good grades.  Our society teaches that the students with the higher grades receive the scholarships and the better jobs.  Competitions for instrumental performances, sports games, and so on are awarded placements.  The list continues.  If I didn’t measure up, I disliked myself.  I felt friends and family were disappointed and even worse, was that God was displeased and angry with me.

When my children were lost and seeking God, I wanted to know that I would have done all God required of me.  Through that process I sometimes forgot to have faith and trust in God.  I am ashamed to admit that I worried about my children not only with salvation, but other aspects of their lives.  I worried about my husband with health issues and his work.      

I am thankful to discover that in God’s world we are not graded on our performances.  With faith it is possible to please him.  I don’t have to perform perfectly, but just believe God and He will take care of everything.  We are only human.  I knew this in my mind, but I did not always feel this in my heart.  My greatest failure was not trusting and not having faith in God.

God gives us many choices in life.  We choose life or death. We choose to doubt or to believe.  Now my focus is to be my best and trust God to take care of all the rest.  My faith is what pleases Him.