Live To Please The Lord

Live to Please the Lord

Our goal is to be acceptable to him, whether we are at home or away from home. We all must appear before Christ in court so that each person can be paid back for the things that were done while in the body, whether they were good or bad.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 (CEB)

If one could briefly summarize the Amish faith, it would be to live as pleasing to the Lord; their Ordnung is a set of rules to help them do that. But Amish men and women are often the first to admit that they sometimes enjoy a little freedom from the rules of their district. My friend Ora, who grew up Amish, remembers the joy of riding a bicycle when he visited his uncle’s farm. His uncle lived in a district where bicycles were allowed.

Even today some Amish settlements are known to be more “liberal” than others. Pinecraft, Florida, is considered the Amish Las Vegas, and people joke that what happens in Pinecraft stays in Pinecraft. The Amish there are often seen with cell phones and cameras. There are no horses and buggies, and everyone rides bicycles.

For us, the idea of using a camera or riding a bicycle is unremarkable, and we don’t understand the internal battle some Amish may have over doing so. Yet we have our own struggles with conscience. Some of these struggles may have their basis in religious tradition. But others, those that result in sin, are more serious.

Being away from home should never allow us to feel that we have an excuse for disobeying God’s Word. Pleasing the Lord should be the primary aim of all believers, something at which we should all seek to excel, and not merely because others are watching. We must strive to obey because we love the Lord and because someday we will stand before Him.

I doubt that when Amish men or women stand before God someday, He’ll shake His finger at their use of a cell phone. But being away from home should never be a license to sin, because God is with us wherever we go.

Dear heavenly Father, sometimes it gets easy to let down my guard, especially when I’m away from home. Help me to stand firm no matter where I am, no matter who is watching—or not.