One Easy Way to Align Your Life With Christ

In all of history, right down to the nitty-gritty of your life, this never changes: “our purpose . . . is to please [God].” Paul says, no matter which side of heaven we are, “our purpose stays fixed” on this one thing (2 Corinthians 5:9, The Voice). 

You were made to delight the very heart of Christ. Your words are meant to move the heart of God. 

Your devotion undoes Him.

Your worship declares Him worthy.

Your one surrendered life, aligned with His, honors Him.

Pleasing God is not about earning His love, but finding our God-given purpose. Pointing the glory to Him. Partnering with God’s missional heart. 

It’s about learning God’s nature and adopting His motives. Nestling in next to Him. Mimicing His motions.

In short, pleasing God is a direction-setting endeavor that always aligns our lives with God’s heart. 

Receiving God’s Love

But let’s back up. Before we can love like God, we must know, deep in our souls, that we are loved by God. Before we can care about things that catch at God’s heart, we have to know He cares about us.

We can’t replicate what we’ve never experienced.

If that’s where you are today, find somewhere that quiets the restlessness inside–step outdoors, barefoot if you can, turn on a worship song, light a candle, settle onto your knees. Then, in your own words, invite God to reveal how tenderly and tenaciously He loves you.

Stay quiet for a moment and simply listen. 

God’s love has never lifted from you for the slightest second. He’s never second-guessed the way He made you. He poured His most brilliant creativity into your design. He’s pleased to no end by your presence.

Even though fractures and fissures have filled your life, a faithful God has–and never will–fail you. 

His love reaches deeper than the loss, higher than the hurt, and around the ache.

If you don’t see the evidence yet, ask God to show you. Right now, I’m praying words written by Paul over you, praying that you may “have every confidence that nothing—not death, life, heavenly messengers, dark spirits, the present, the future, spiritual powers, height, depth, nor any created thing—can come between us and the love of God revealed in the Anointed, Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, The Voice).

Reflecting God’s Love

Let’s flip forward in our Bibles to 2 Corinthians 5, where we started. As Paul reveals in verse 6, “the controlling force in our lives is the love of the Anointed One” (The Voice). 

The love God directs towards you is reflected back to Him when you love the people in your life. We grasp only a fraction of God’s raging affection for us unless we let Him love others through us.

When we’re invested, we understand afresh how outrageously God loves undeserving us. 

It was our not-rightness with God that necessitated the cross. Our willful spirits that pounded iron into His outstretched hands. Our need for erased distance that cost Jesus His life.

When you’re loved like that, you want your life to help others find life in Christ. And God invites us to do exactly that.

We who have been reconciled to Christ–made right with Him–are given “the same mission, the ministry of reconciliation, to bring others back to Him,” as Paul explains (2 Corinthians 5:18, The Voice). The message we are to carry into our casual conversations, couple with practical acts of kindness, and model for others to follow is one “that heals and restores our broken relationships with God and each other” (2 Corinthians 5:19, The Voice). 

In right-side-up, kingdom logic, God’s love for us moves us towards mission. We seek an outlet for the love God pours into us.

And that’s where we discover purpose.

When we do that thing we were created for, our souls swell with satisfaction. 

You and I, my friend, were formed to bring joy to our Father. To join His mission to repair severed relationships. To receive–and reflect–His love. Every moment. Everywhere we are.

Ask Yourself This Question to Align Your Life With Christ

Our passions and pursuits, our schedules and our self-talk, can take us towards or away from the design of Christ. But this “fixed purpose” of pleasing Him realigns us. 

Imagine the effect on your life if you asked, Lord, does this please You? throughout your day.

Ask it of your attitude, your commitments, your priorities. Ask it of your relationships and decisions. Ask it of the words you say to yourself when no one hears. Ask it in front of the mirror, ask it as you read your Bible, ask it as God brings something in your life to the surface. 

The easiest way to align your life with Christ is to learn what pleases Him. Search Scripture for evidence of God’s nature. Then pursue things that bring Him joy–like loving generously, nudging others gently towards Him, and glorifying His name. 

Let’s pray.

Lord, we long to please You. Would You teach us how? Lead us, step by step, as You so kindly do.

Show us Your tender and tenacious love. Help us to receive it in every barricaded or bandaged area of our hearts. Give us eyes to see how faithful You’ve been in our lives.

May we, in turn, reflect Your precious, already-paid for love to the people in front of us. May we be agents of reconciliation everywhere we go.

In Your holy and true name we pray, Lord. Amen.

Just a friend over here in your corner,

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What if you gave your faith the chance to ripple right into your neighborhood? These quick tips provide a wide variety of baby steps to help you begin to build friendships with your neighbors. When we get close to God and let others get close to us, the things God is working out in us can show.

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