WHAT DOES GOD WANT FROM US?

“But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” – Matthew 5:48.

Christians want to please God with their lives, but we fall short of living the Christian life we want to live. There is way too much pressure.  There is the need to love others, read the Bible, pray, witness, disciple others, etc. We are doing things that God does not want in our life. There always seems to be another area of my spiritual life I need to do better or more.

Fortunately, God does not demand perfection in you. He is not expecting you to measure up. God never thought you could live a Christian life or meet His holy standards. If He thought you could, He wouldn’t have come to earth to die for you. But He did.

God is aware of the gap between His perfection and our sinfulness. But despite that, there is a constant tension within us trying to close that gap to strengthen the relationship and feel closer to God. What does God say about this gap? It’s there and it will always be there. But you, who have put your faith in Jesus, received Him into your life, have been forgiven and declared righteous. You are completely His, and He loves you unconditionally, despite the gap. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”

It is likely, however, that you will come to a point in your life where you begin to think that surely God must now want some compensation. What God wants when it comes to you is simple. He wants you. C.S. Lewis said, “God doesn’t want something from us, He simply wants us.” He wants a loving relationship with His children. He wants us to take that vertical love for God and make it horizontal by treating our neighbors as ourselves. If you read scripture, you quickly conclude that love is the foundation of everything God does. 1 John 4:8 says it outright: “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” He created you so that He could love you and you might love Him.  He wants our love.

God is looking for the person who longs to know, understand, and be close to God, who knows that God is the Lord, the omniscient, omnipresent and sovereign God. Someone who knows that God is the God of steadfast love, justice, and righteousness on earth. One who knows that God is good and great and that it is a privilege to know Him. To know God is more life-giving than anything else. To know God is our purpose, our mission, and our life.

The end goal of the Christian life is to become the person God wants us to be. God longs to use you because He loves you. He’s not selfish. He doesn’t need your help. He wants to work with you. He wants your life to matter. He wants you to have an eternal reward for what you do here on earth because He’s a good Father who wants an intimate relationship with His children. He wants you to be filled with the fullness of life that comes from doing life with Him.

Discussion Questions:

1. How would you answer if someone asked you what God wants from you?
2. Does what God wants from us change over time or with changing circumstances? Why or why not?