Day 9: What Makes God Smile

I almost didn't sit down to write this before work. I did a lot of stuff around the house yesterday and when I woke up this morning I felt like goofing off. It took me a while to wake up, like I said, the apnea doesn't help me sleep well. But as I sat here sorting laundry and washing a load of jeans, I realized two things. First, I hate sorting socks. I'm going to invent affordable disposable socks. People buy all kinds of disposable things, we have plates, forks, paper towels etc, that never need washing. We should have disposable socks. Second, any distraction that keeps me from reading my book and blogging is from the devil. Not that sorting socks and washing jeans didn't need to be done, but I made a promise to put this book and blog first. It's helping me do all the stuff that needs to be done for the right reasons and with the right heart. Besides I had an 90 minutes with my PS3 last night. (The first time since last Sunday) So, on to the text.

The smile of God is the goal of your life.
I'm a parent and a son and nothing makes me happy like when my kids do something that makes me smile. And nothing made me happier as a kid as when my parents were pleased with me and smiling. I can still remember my boot camp graduation and how my parents were both so proud of me. But as a child of God, am I making Him smile? Sometimes I can feel it, sometimes I can even discern His smile in the things around me. When God is pleased with me it is a feeling I can't describe.

God smiles when we love Him 'supremely', trust Him 'completely', and obey Him 'wholeheartedly'.
The author touches on these things separately, but I want to group them together. Those three words are finite. I know you may be thinking that they are infinite, but the reality is that they leave no margin for error. There is no tolerance in them. I work on airplanes and there are tolerances built into every test I run. For example, 150 +/- 5 knots may be a good airspeed test result. So, 145Kts to 155kts is considered 'passing'. When houses are built, the distance between support beams even has a tolerance of a few inches. These words however leave no wiggle room.

Supremely means above ALL else, if there is one thing you love more than God, you're not making Him smile. Completely means with ALL your mind. I used to take drama classes and some of you may be familiar with the "trust" exercise. You stand with your back to someone, look straight ahead, and fall back. If you don't trust the person behind you to catch you, you'll turn your head, or put your arms out in case they drop you. God will never drop you if you trust Him completely. Wholeheartedly, that word is self explanatory. With your WHOLE heart. I put off stuff all the time. I have a list a mile long of things I need to do. But some things can't wait and when they come up there is no pause. Doing things when and how you are asked is obeying wholeheartedly.

God smiles when we praise and thank Him continuously.
I think of how my ego is boosted when my wife tells the world on Facebook what an awesome husband I am. Even if all I did was fold some laundry that was in the spot I wanted to sit. It feels good when she thanks me and other people say nice things about what I did. (shhhh. don't tell them I only did it so I could sit in the comfy spot.) At church on Sunday, the main sound tech kept telling me what a good job I was doing on the sound board, I could see his smile and tell he was being honest. Man that felt good. What reason could I possibly have for not wanting to make God feel that way? NONE. I need to start thanking God for everything, including the things that I don't like. God, thank you for Kimchi, it makes my wife happy.

God smiles when we use our abilities.
The caveat is that I have to use my abilities for good and Godly things. I have an eye for photography. Remember a few days back I mentioned wanting to be published in Time magazine? Remember I also said I used to want to be published in a different magazine? God wouldn't smile if I used the gifts He gave me to cause other people who may struggle with lustful hearts to stumble. Teresa and I thought long and hard when we named our business and came up with our logo. Ethereal Photos: Capturing the Beauty of God's Creations and Sharing them with the World. Ethereal: of or relating to the regions beyond the earth; suggesting the heavens or Heaven.

God looks at the attitude of your heart. Is pleasing Him your deepest desire?
I LOVE that God has forgiven all my sins. But in my heart, I desire to please God and even when I sin, He knows that. He knows I am dust and that I can never be perfect. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." My worth to God is only in God, I can do nothing to get into Heaven except Believe that nothing I do will get me into Heaven. Greg said it the other day, Jesus IS the propitiation for all my sins. But the Bible also tells us that Faith without works is death. If I have faith in what Jesus did for me, my life should show others that I love Him supremely, trust Him completely, and obey Him wholeheartedly.

The Bible verse today is from Psalms again.

The Lord is pleased only
with those who worship him
and trust his love.
Ps 147:11 (CEV)

Since God knows what is best, in what areas of my life do I need to trust Him most. Wow, that's a hard one to think on. I obviously need Him in every area of my life, but where I need to trust Him the most I think is with raising my children. Not letting Him raise my children, (wouldn't that make life easier?) but trusting in His ways and teachings for how to be a good parent, a Godly one. I need to stick to the script and remember that when it comes to God's teachings, there is no +/- tolerance.

Remember:God smiles when I trust Him.