2 Corinthians 5

So our aim is to please him always, whether we are here in this body or away from this body. – Vs 9 NLT

Our aim is to please Him – always. Paul had one overwhelming ambition in his life – to please God with his life. He longed to be with the Lord, but was not content to wait for death and eternity to begin living a holy life, wholly pleasing to God. He was going to do it even when he was occupying this temporary dwelling called a human body. In chapter four he referred to his body as an earthen vessel or clay pot that was filled with the priceless treasure of God's gift of salvation. Paul's body, though having been beaten and abused time after time in his service for God, contained the Holy Spirit of God. Yet he says, "Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life" (Vs 4 NLT). Paul looked forward to eternity, but he was not so heavenly minded that he was no earthly good. He was busy serving the Lord, making it his ambition to please God with his life as long as he had life. He makes it quite clear that he would prefer to be with the Lord. "Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord" (Vs 8 NLT). He understood that the Holy Spirit was given to us as a kind of "down-payment" or pledge to remind us of eternity. "God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit" (Vs 5 NLT). God has created us to share eternity with Him. That is our ultimate purpose. But Paul was going to take advantage of every moment of his life on this earth and ensure that he lived a life that was pleasing to God. Thinking about eternal life and the reality of having a renewed body gave Paul courage to live life for God on this earth (Vs 6). It allowed him to live by faith and not by sight (Vs 7). It gave him all the motivation he needed to live a life that was pleasing and acceptable to God.

Father, I want my life to be pleasing and acceptable to You. I want to live the life You have given me on this earth to the fullest and with my goal clearly to please You with all that I do. I understand that any ability I have to please You comes from Your Spirit within me and because of what Christ has done for me. I am a clay pot that contains the priceless treasure of salvation. That is what gives my life value and worth. That is what makes me pleasing to You. May I live my life in such a way that the truth of the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ is evident in my life each and every day.  Amen