Living Before His Presence

 Does it cross our minds that we are to live our lives before God's face and with the reminder we are always living in His presence. Always. In public and in private. He knows all and He sees all. Nothing is hidden from Him. Not one thing. Whether good or bad. He has a front row seat to view it all. 

How would we live differently if we kept that truth in mind? If we daily lived with the knowledge that we live before the all seeing eye of Jehovah. Would it make any difference? People know how to control their actions in certain situations. They also know how to control their language when called to do so. 

Living before His presence should motivate us to faithful service and holy living. Sadly, hypocrisy abounds in the church of God today. People profess one thing with their lips, but their hearts betray a different reality. Apathy supplants passion for God and the things of God. Hypocrisy makes a mockery of holiness. People live with a form of godliness externally. They deny the power of God internally. They forget they are living before Him continually. 

I believe that God is moved emotionally by the way we live. He is disappointed when we live in the flesh. He is angry when we rebel against Him and willfully defy His commands. He gets excited when we seek Him and serve Him with pure motives. He is moved with compassionate mercy when we acknowledge our sin and repent. 

We should want to live to please Him. Like a child wants to please parents, so should we be motivated to please our Heavenly Father. To please Him in our worship. Not mindlessly singing words we do not mean or even meditate on the lyrics. Pleasing Him in worship means singing as much with our hearts as with our voices. It means singing to Him and not for the approval of others. 

Pleasing Him means we look for opportunities, divinely orchestrated appointments, to tell others about Him. We must do more than give lip service in our church gatherings to sharing the gospel. We actually do it. With family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, doctors, nurses, and wait staff where we dine. I think that makes God's heart swell with joyous delight. 

We can also please Him when we love those others ignore, reject, and ridicule. We love others who are the least of these because it is like loving and serving Jesus. To love the addicts, the rejects of society, the immoral, the ones who have fallen into deep sin even though they knew better, the outcasts, the fringe people, the elderly, the poor, as well as the young, rich, and successful. God commands that we love all kinds of people. I think it blesses Him when we choose to love and embrace people others avoid. 

I think it enthralls God when we open our Bibles to read to know Him, to learn more of Him, and to hear from Him. We should read the scriptures like someone reads a love letter. Methodically, systematically, pondering passages and adjusting our lives accordingly. Digging deep for profound truth and the relentless quest to know God. 

Living in His presence and before Him means serving out of delight rather than duty. It means giving our lives away not to be recognized, but so that He will be glorified. True servants do not want recognition. They very often do what they do anonymously so as not to draw attention to themselves. They want to deflect all praise and honor to God. This glorifies Him. 

All of this and more are some of what it means to live before the presence of God. May we live pleasing Him while learning to deny ourselves. To make much of Him and less of ourselves. To deny ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Him. May we live before Him.