Purpose Day 8: Planned For God's Pleasure

You exist for his benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight.

This statement should make me feel honored & special, but why does it make me feel like a Muslim wife? Its my stubborn heart that tells me I belong to ME. I guess its the way of the world that drills into us women that we are nobody's property and that we remain independant. How far we've come from what God designed. And not just wives, men too. What man would consider himself someone's property, existing for only their benefit?  We really have to adjust our way of thinking to wrap our heads around this thought.

He wants you to enjoy life, not just endure it.

Ah, this makes me feel a bit better. Not as a slave, but as someone who wants the love, and loves back in the same way. Where life is God's pleasure for him AND for us.

Bringing pelasure to God is called worship.
Worship is far more than music. I get hooked on thinking we are "worship singing" and the rest of life is not worship. Worship can & should be in every act we do, not just how we sing.

Worship is not for your benefit.
God's heart is not touched by tradition in worship, but by passion & commitment.

I like that statement. Too many Christians & churches are wrapped up in tradition & legalism that there is no passion, no life left in their worship... mundane, repetetive, solemn. How can a heart be free to worship with rules & traditions getting in the way?

Worship is not a part of your life, it is  your life... doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus.

Ouch... even menial tasks, like dishes, and bookeeping? Definitely not what I've been doing. Not that I'm doing them with a bitter heart, but just doing them because someone has to, not because I'm out to please anyone, let alone Jesus. Maybe those mundane tasks won't be so difficult if I can do them for Jesus.