Saturday, August 28, 2010

CREATED FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do." - Ephesians 2:10

Eric Liddell was an Olympic runner from Britain who won a gold medal in
the 1924 Paris Olympics. He was a man who had a deep commitment to the
Lord and had future plans of being a missionary. In the meantime, he
knew God had given him a special gift to run, and he often said, "I feel
God's pleasure when I run."
He spent years training for the Olympics. He passed each hurdle and
qualified for the Olympics. Finally, the day came for him to run in the
games that were held in Italy. There was only one problem. One of his
running events was held on Sunday. Liddell refused to run on Sunday,
believing it dishonored the Lord's Sabbath. He held to his convictions
and brought great persecution on himself. He made a decision that even
if it meant losing his opportunity to compete, he would not run. God's
laws were greater than man's applause. Just when the circumstances
seemed hopeless, another situation arose that allowed Liddell to run on
a different day.
So often this is the case in the spiritual realm. God tests our hearts
to see if we will remain faithful to Him at the cost of something
important to us. Once He knows where our loyalty lies, He opens a new
door that meets the desires of our hearts.
God takes pleasure in seeing His creation used for His glory. Liddell
understood why he was made to run; he used his gift of running to bring
pleasure to his Creator. Later, Eric Liddell went on to serve God on the
mission field.
Does your life work bring pleasure to the Lord? Do you understand that
God instilled certain gifts and talents in you so that He might find
pleasure in His creation of you? Take pleasure in the gifts God has
given to you this day. And let His glory shine through you.

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