Just To Please Him!
-- Anon

In these days in which we live, there is great need that we be more quiet before the Lord. Just to enter into, and abide in such sweet communion with Him that we may at all times feast on that fruit of the Spirit which is Love, Joy, Peace, etc. (Gal. 5:22, 23). These verses are just a picture of what our Lord Jesus Christ is, and what He wants to be to every one of His dear ones. This is very precious to the heart that has tasted that the Lord is Good. O, that we might enter more into the mind of God about the One whose infinite loveliness is His daily delight, who always pleased Him, who rejoiced always before Him (Matt. 17:5; Prov. 8:30). 

When we are rejoicing in His love, do we ever stop to think whether He is happy? We sing, "That will be glory for me." How much more blessed to sing, "That will be glory for Him." O, that we might get so completely away from thinking of self and from seeking our own welfare, as to be able to live before Him just to minister to the needs of His own loving heart, just to make Him happy. No one was ever happy who was seeking happiness. Only those taste of real joy who are seeking to give joy to the heart of another. We come to Him many times to have our own needs met. Do we ever come just to satisfy the longings of His own heart of love? 

He is seeking worshippers, those who will speak of His real worth, His beauty, His glory. Has He found them in us? Have we been seeking to give Him the joy that was before Him when He endured the cross, when He paid the awful price of our redemption? Will our only joy in the glory be that we are saved and made like Him? Will not the joy of knowing that He is satisfied, that He has been made to rejoice, far transcend all this? Ah, beloved, we are so prone to look at everything from our own standpoint, from the effect it will have on us instead of its relation to Him. We have wept with Him over cold stony hearts. Have we ever rejoiced with Him just because He found His sheep? We are often made to rejoice by the joy of those dear to our hearts. Are we ever happy for no other reason than that we know He is happy? How often we sell our ointment -- that which should have been poured out upon Him -- under pretense of giving something to the poor (John 12:1-11). How often we deny Him the time that His loving heart craves under pretense of being too busy with service. One has said, "I grow very weary of the constant spurring of God's people to service, service, as if any father ever did care so much to have his children toiling for him as loving and trusting him." 

O, that we might ask ourselves under every circumstance, "Will this bring joy to His loving heart?" We may be doing many things that are not positively evil, but do they contribute to His joy? How much we need to get better acquainted with Him. To know Him aright will lessen our care to know anything else, for He is the fullness of God. In Him is comprehended all that God has for us from the moment we are saved to the countless ages of eternity. 

Yet a little while and we shall be forever with Him. Will we regret then that we spent much time alone with Him while in this wilderness scene? My heart longs for that time when I shall never again grieve Him. How patient, how gentle He has been with every one of us. How the lack of appreciation on the part of friends has sometimes grieved us. What, then, must it mean to Him-- who gave everything to purchase us from eternal death, to have us show no concern about His happiness, about His glory, to have us occupied with everything but Himself?