“For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God…” (Ecclesiastes 2:26 ESV).
We all have days where we recognize that we are not the best version of ourselves. Days where we know our thoughts and actions have not made God happy at all. And if you are anything like me, those days are usually what you’d consider futile, as though you were working hard and accomplishing nothing.
I’ve been around this world for fifty years now, and I think I have a pretty firm understanding of what pleases God and what, decidedly, doesn’t. To be honest, it doesn’t really take too many years on this earth for us to understand those things that don’t please Him. It’s programmed into our DNA. We’re born. We sin. We know what God doesn’t like, but we do it anyway.
But then something marvelous happens. We come to know Jesus. All of a sudden, we want to please God. But our DNA hasn’t changed!?! While we do some things that please Him, we also find ourselves pleasing our faulty DNA.
But God mad provision for our faulty DNA. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3 ESV ). He has given us the tools we need to please Him!
And when we choose to turn our backs to the things that do not please Him, a marvelous thing happens: we attain the wisdom, knowledge, and joy for which we have been looking!
Then, the futility of life that we experience all fades away. Our jobs may not change, but we have changed. We are working for a purpose; we are getting wiser and stronger.
So whenever we feel as though we are sloughing through the mire of this world, forever rolling a rock up a hill only to have it roll back down, we need to remember the attitudes and actions that please God. Then we will feel the radiance that comes from His pleasure in us.
Blessings on your day!
Skipping Stones 
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