Seek to Please God
As believers in God alone, our priority in this life
should be to fulfill God's expectation of us. We should live a life
that will please God. What pleases God is not our utterances, but our
actual intentions or actions to carry out His commandments. When
pleasing God becomes the most important aspect of one's life, God will
make every thing wonderful for him or her:
God promises those among you who
believe and lead righteous life, that He will make them sovereigns on
earth, as He did for those before them, and will establish for them
the religion He has chosen for them, and will substitute peace and
security for them in place of fear. All this because they worship Me
alone, without setting up any idols besides Me. Those who disbelieve
after this are the truly wicked" (24:55).
If you want to become a "king" or a "queen" on earth,
then, you have to examine yourself sincerely at every opportunity.
Anytime you have a problem in any aspect of your life -money, health,
relationships, any problem-you must search for the lesson. As soon as
you understand the lesson, everything will be all right. The problem
will simply go away, and, more importantly, God will make it up to
you. All bad effects of the past will be wiped out.
If you are sincere, God will perfect your relationship
with Him, by putting you through tests, based on your weaknesses
(3:14,8:28). For example, if you hold anything to be more important
than God, He might take it away from you, in order to test you.
Therefore, one must ask himself, "What is the most important thing in
my life?" If your job is the most important thing, it may be taken
away. If your children are the most important aspect of your life,
they may be taken away.
God: Number one priority
The number one priority in everyone's life should be
to please God. No one or nothing else should take priority before God.
What is the number one priority in your life? Is it pleasing God, or
your boss? Is it doing your five daily prayers to please God, or
pleasing your friends who may not understand why you bow and
prostrate? Is it going to the Friday prayer or taking care of your
business? Is it to be with the believers in Quranic study or
fulfilling your own desires by seeking recreation on Friday nights?
What is it? You have to examine yourself carefully, and you must
correct the situation immediately. If you put pleasing your friends
ahead of pleasing God, God will embarrass you in front of those
friends. However, if you put pleasing God ahead of pleasing your
friends, God will shower you with dignity and respect in front of
those friends. He will make them, force them, to respect you, and even
love you. God controls the minds and hearts of all the people. God is
the one who makes them love you, or hate you, or respect you.
Do you act differently with the believers than you
normally act? Do you speak up and give your opinion to other believers
because you honestly want to share your thoughts and understanding
with them, or do you simply want them to be impressed by your
knowledge? If the reason you speak out is to be respected by the
believers, God will take away that respect. Whereas, if you speak out
from an honest and sincere desire to express Quran and learn with
those around you, God will shower you with admiration from the
believers.
Once you make pleasing God the most important thing in
your life, you will possess the most valuable thing one can ask for -
God's support. But, if you make anything more important than pleasing
God, you will be tested over and over. If you do not realize that fact
after all the tests, you will lose both in this world and in the
Hereafter.
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