Thoughts for the day

March 3, 2010
Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing to Him. (2 Corinthians 5:9 KJV marg.)

To be well pleasing to any person, you must know Him, and it is even so with your Lord. You cannot know Him intimately and well if you do not spend much time with Him. You must live unto Him and not unto yourself. I am sure you will gladly admit the righteousness of that, for if He died for you that you might live, the life you live should be unto and for Him.
I am not talking now so much of your service, though He does appreciate your service. Do you remember that when He chose His apostles, it was not that He might send them forth to preach, first of all, but that they might be with Him. The preaching followed that. We are well pleasing to Him when we desire His company above all things else, and when His love is better to us than wine.
John was well pleasing to the Lord when he put his head down upon His bosom, and he was not an old grey-haired brother when he that; he was the youngest of the disciples, and as far as we can make out, not more than 20 at the time. He found his solace in a time of trouble on that breast in which the tenderest heart in the universe beats, and when the great test came and all the older brethren fled, this youth of 20 with a few women stood by the cross of Jesus. And his Lord was able to trust him, to entrust to him His mother, a most precious legacy for to him, and not to Peter, He said, “Behold thy mother.”
Put your head on His bosom-there is room for it there, and so you do, you will live unto Him; you will be His friend and he will be able to trust you, and when the test comes, you will witness and your service will be well-pleasing to Hi. – J. T. Mawson.