Learn What Is Pleasing to the Lord

… Learn what is pleasing to the Lord

                                                                  Ephesians 5:10

            My husband and I had invited several friends for dinner one night, and he offered to help me get ready.  The guests were due to arrive shortly and the table wasn’t set, so I asked him to go to the hall closet and get the tablecloth.  While looking for the tablecloth, he discovered a box of ski gloves we had stored in the closet.  He noticed that spots of mold were growing on some of the gloves.  I was busily preparing for the dinner guests when I noticed that he was scrubbing ski gloves at the kitchen sink.  If we had been planning a ski trip for the next morning, it might have been more appropriate, but that was not the case.  The table still was not set for dinner.  Needless to say, I wasn’t pleased.

            Mold on ski gloves does need to be cleaned off. There was nothing essentially wrong with that activity.  It’s just that it wasn’t what I needed him to be doing right then.  There were more urgent things to be done at the moment, like setting the table for dinner!  Even now, many years later, we occasionally tease each other, “Is that mold on the ski gloves you’re working on?” 

            I am often reminded of this verse in Ephesians encouraging us to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  We all have many choices to make throughout the day about how to spend our time.  How do we know what is pleasing to God?  By making time alone with Him our highest priority each day, spending time in the Word, in prayer, listening for His voice, trusting Him for all the resources necessary to do whatever He calls us to do.  He will be pleased as we follow Him.  I’m learning to start each day praying, “Lord, take my hand and lead me through this day.”  I recognize that He is my Shepherd, and His sheep know His voice.  That is the way I can keep from being distracted by the many choices that present themselves throughout the day.  

            I am confident that as we pray and ask the Lord for His will, the decisions we need to make will become clear — maybe not today, when we want to know, but in His time.  He has promised to be the still small voice saying, This is the way, walk in it… (Isaiah 30:21).

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Spend some time focusing on Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

If you have not already made this a part of your life, I encourage you to make time with the Lord a priority — daily, offering yourself to Him to do whatever would please Him during the day.  The only way you can know for sure is by asking Him!  Trust Him for all the resources to carry out whatever He places before you.

When is the best time for you to set aside to have time alone with the Lord?

What changes can you make in your current schedule of activities to make regular time with Him a priority?