by Milton Johanides

Created on: October 31, 2010

It is sad and ironic that of all the faiths, Christianity is the one most riddled with self-doubt. Even though the Bible begins with the tale of God creating everything we know and being well-pleased with it, we to this day fret about pleasing God. The good news is that he is already pleased with us. He loves us so much, in fact, that he sent his one and only son to die for us. Perhaps it is all the talk of lakes of fire which punctures our confidence, or the high moral aspirations of the apostle Paul, which we read about in his epistles and often find hard to live up to. The fact is, that our simple devotion, our frequent and unselfish prayers, our joyous celebration of life, are all it takes to bring a smile to God's lips.

In the course of our Christian journey we will come face to face with our base earthly selves which very often contradict the fine things we are taught in the Bible. We cannot escape sin, but we can keep it in check by regular meditations. Once the joy of the love of the Lord overwhelms us, everything else becomes a matter of course. The love of others is the most important of all emotions. To experience unselfish love, we must first experience the trials and tribulations of confronting our darker selves. Coming through that forge, that flaming tunnel where all our vanities are hammered into shape, we emerge finally as bright beacons of hope.

To live each day in hope of that greater glory that awaits us all is the best way to please God. This in itself brings with it courage and the fearless confidence in our ability to meet the demands of a loving creator who has already made it as easy for us as he can through the sacrifice of Jesus. Satan was defeated on Calvary and we have only the flimsiest resistance from his demons today as we battle with the forces of evil. There is no hiding place for them. Some will fall to the temptations of greed and passion, but the course of God's will is straight as an arrow, and all men and women sooner or later will have to toe the line. Times may seem hard in the present, but the future is open to those who can approach it with a clear conscience. Please God by trusting him. Whatever is going wrong in your life can be put right in a fleeting moment. Whatever trench you have dug for yourself can be covered over. Believing that and showing him that you can leave everything to His fine judgement will give God more pleasure than a thousand good deeds.

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