Will this please God?

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(James Smith, "The Voice of Mercy in the House of Affliction!" 1855)

"So we make it our goal to please Him." 2 Corinthians 5:9

Our principal business on earth is to please God.
This is the grand end of our creation--we were formed to glorify Him.
This was the great design in our redemption--to show forth His praise.
On this one object--our attention should be fixed!
To this one end--all our efforts should be directed!

In every enterprise, our first inquiry should be--Will this please God? And after every engagement, the point we should strive to ascertain is--Have I pleased God in this?

And if this is true--then how have we been living? Day after day has passed away--and we have never once thought about pleasing God! One engagement has followed another--but it has never been our aim to please God! In this we are truly guilty!

And this, while it proves our depravity--also accounts for our unhappiness. We never can be happy--but as we have a well-grounded conviction that we are pleasing God!

Reader, has pleasing God been the main object of your life? Have you been habitually aiming at this one end? Or, rather have you not entirely forgotten it, and busied yourself about almost everything beside?

"That you may live a life worthy of the Lord, and may please Him in every way." Colossians 1:10

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