R.E.A.P. your daily devotions with Linda Bailey

The male is so in love with his partner that he says he wants to know absolutely everything about her.

Ephesians 5.1-21

Reference:  v.10  ...and find out what pleases the Lord. (NIV Bible)

Explore:  There is an advertisement on TV in Australia at the moment where a couple are sitting in a bedroom.  The male is so in love with his partner that he says he wants to know absolutely everything about her.  So, he starts walking around the room asking her questions about objects and photos.  After a few explanations he finds a sanitary napkin.  He picks it up and asks what it is.  She explains that it's a sanitary napkin and tells of all it's wonderful virtues to help her during that time of the month.  He quickly puts it down and walks out of the room saying, "I don't want to know any more."
This guy wanted to know everything about his partner... to a point!  When the details got all too much he was quick to retreat and stop the conversation.
As Christians we say that we want to know everything about God.  We can go to church, join a Bible study, listen to Christian music and wear a WWJD wristband.  However, when we get into the itty bitty details of what pleases the Lord, we can tend to become a bit hard of hearing.  In this fifth chapter of Ephesians the writer really spells out some of the smaller details of following God: no sexual immorality, no obscene talk, no greed...  When we hear of the all-loving, ever-compassionate God it makes following Him easy.  However we need to continue to discover what pleases God.  It's not just what God can do for us but what is our response to God's love and compassion?

Application:  It's easy to follow God if we just look at the light and fluffy bits but the more we discover about God the greater we understand how gracious He is.  When we experience His grace then we want to respond in a way that is pleasing to God, but sometimes that's when the challenges kick in.  Do we really have to change that much to please God?  The more we discover about God the more we understand what pleases Him.  Some of it may come easily to us, other parts may make us feel like walking out of the room!  However, in all we do we aim to please God.  We know there will be challenges and we will no doubt fail, but with the loving grace of God we can get back in focus and continue to strive to please Him with our lives.

Prayer:  Lord, sometimes I know what would please you and I still do the wrong thing.  Forgive me Lord.  May I strive to be pleasing to you today.  Amen.

What are some of the actions that you know are pleasing to God?