...Please God.

The more I try to please God, the harder it becomes. Temptation abounds, because my progress in realizing the citizenship I have been given by God leads inevitably to resistance from the kingdom of darkness. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. The more I try to please God, the easier it becomes. Perhaps God grants a sort of momentum to those of his own who commit and plunge fully into their own process of transformation. God roams to and fro throughout the earth, looking to support those whose hearts are fully his. Yet, there is grace, and mercy; and mercy could be a kind of grace. In grace, one receives a unwarranted good. In mercy, one receives pardon for an otherwise punishable offense. Mercy, too, is a good, and is certainly unwarranted. With grace, all humanity--indeed all creation--is invited to take part in the presence of God.

For humanity, the case is this, and more beside. Not only the presence, but the very nature of the Godhead is made available for those who would know him, and recognize his lordship and salvation. We have an inherent as well as a developed brokenness. To this grace, divine grace, is owed all optimism, for grace is mother of hope and perseverance and faith, and the child of love. Love makes room for a grateful heart and life, and grace allows us to fill that room appropriately. What more remains? Follow love with reckless abandon. Become a disciple of him who would make you holy, and whole. God is all you need; God is the reality of love.