“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.”
Ephesians 5:8-10
She was one of the great leaders of the 21st century, playing a vital role in the end of the Cold War in Europe. She was a strong woman in a man’s world. The movie entitled Iron Lady was recently released depicting the story of her courageous life.
I thoroughly enjoyed viewing this film captivating the life and career of Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of England. But, it was one particular quote of hers that resonated with me. In her declining years she looks back and says: “It used to be what we could do. Now it is all about what we can become or who we can be.”
What are you living for? What is your ultimate goal? Who are you trying to please? The old catechism answer says that our chief aim is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. So what does that mean? Simply, it means our goal is to please God.
Who’s in control of your life? Who’s pulling your strings? For the majority of us, it’s other people – society, colleagues, friends, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us and to be a big dog in the kennel of life.
In Ephesians 5 we are told that our goal is to “Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” If we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted and probably pleasing no one in the process.
To be successful in God’s eyes is to do God’s will for our lives. After all, he created us with a purpose and for a reason. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others in this secular world, we will live a more authentic, effective, purposeful and happy life. We will be actualized and successful.
Life is not about who makes history and headlines or who acquires the most power and possessions. Life is about pleasing the Creator of all of us.
Only one question remains – do you really want to be free?
By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
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