Make It Your Aim
“So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
2 Corinthians 5:9 (NIV)
All of us have goals. We want to grow, to succeed, to provide for our families, to build something that lasts, or to accomplish what has been in our hearts for years. None of that is wrong. Scripture commends diligence and planning repeatedly.
But Paul names a goal that sits above every other goal: “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
The Greek behind “make it our goal” is philotimeomai. It is a compound of philos, meaning love, and time, meaning honour. Literally it means to love honour, and it was used of a person who made something their ambition, who aspired to it, who considered it a matter of personal honour to achieve it. Paul uses this rare word only three times in all his letters, and each time for something he is genuinely driven by.
So this is not mild preference. Paul is describing ambition, and he is redirecting it rather than removing it.
Notice also the phrase “whether we are at home in the body or away from it.” Paul has spent the earlier part of this chapter contrasting our present bodies, which he calls a tent, with the eternal house God is preparing. He has just said he would prefer to be “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (verse 8). So his point is: whichever side of death I am on, the aim does not change. That is a life simplified down to a single organising purpose.
And look at what comes immediately next, in verse 10, because Paul gives his reason: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
That word “judgment seat” is bema in Greek. It referred to the raised platform in a Greek city from which officials made judgments and from which prizes were awarded at the games. Paul is not describing a trial to determine whether believers are saved; that question was settled at the cross and he has spent chapters establishing it. He is describing an assessment of how believers have lived, with reward in view. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 describes the same reality: the work is tested by fire, some of it does not survive, and yet “the builder will be saved, even though only as one escaping through the flames.”
So here is the balance we must hold, and getting it wrong in either direction causes real damage.
We do not obey God in order to earn salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 is unambiguous: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” Nothing you do this month will add anything to what Christ has finished.
But because we belong to Him, the settled desire of the heart becomes, “Lord, I want my life to bring You pleasure.” And Paul tells us in verse 14 what fuels that desire: “For Christ’s love compels us.” The engine is not duty or fear of losing favour. It is the love of Christ demonstrated at the cross, exerting pressure on a grateful heart.
Now, what does this aim actually change in practice?
It changes how you make decisions. Most of us evaluate options by asking, “Will this work?” That is a reasonable question, and it is not the highest one. The additional question is, “Will this honour God?” Sometimes both answers point the same way. Sometimes they do not, and that is precisely where discipleship becomes real.
It changes whose opinion governs you. Instead of asking, “What will people think?” you learn to ask, “What does the Lord say?” Tomorrow’s reading will take that further, but notice it begins here.
And it changes where you expect to please Him. We instinctively locate God-pleasing activity inside church life: serving on a team, attending a meeting, leading a group. Those matter. But Scripture is far broader. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” Whatever you do. You can please God in the quality of your work, in your attitude when you are tired, in your marriage, in the tone of your conversations, in your generosity, and particularly in the choices nobody else will ever see.
That last category deserves attention. The choices with no audience are the truest test of whose approval you are actually living for, because there is no secondary reward available.
In 1924 the Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell was one of Britain’s best hopes for Olympic gold in the 100 metres. When the Paris timetable put the heats on a Sunday, he withdrew rather than race on the Lord’s Day, and some at home called it unpatriotic. He trained instead for the 400 metres, a distance nobody expected him to win, and won it. A year later he left for China as a missionary, and he died there in a Japanese internment camp in 1945. His real ambition had never been the medal.
One caution. “Pleasing God” can curdle into anxious perfectionism if we forget the gospel that sits underneath it. Hebrews 11:6 says it is faith that pleases God, and Romans 8:8 says those “in the realm of the flesh cannot please God” while verse 9 says believers are not in that realm. In other words, you are not attempting to please a God who is currently displeased with you. You are a child already accepted in Christ, learning to delight a Father who is already for you.
So before this day gets busy, settle the main thing. Let pleasing Jesus become more important than impressing people, and let that ambition run through the ordinary hours rather than only the religious ones.
Let me add one clarification about the judgment seat, because it troubles sincere believers.
Some Christians read 2 Corinthians 5:10 and feel a low-level dread about it. That is not the effect Paul intends. He mentions it as motivation, not as menace, and in the very next verses he speaks of the ministry of reconciliation with obvious joy.
The believer’s appearing before the bema is not a trial to establish guilt. Romans 8:1 has settled that permanently. It is an assessment of stewardship, and it results in reward or in loss of reward, not in loss of salvation.
So you can look forward to that day. The One assessing your life is the One who died for it, and He is not looking for reasons to be disappointed.
Make this your aim today: wherever you go and whatever you do, live in a way that makes the heart of your Father glad.
Reflection
1. Think of a decision facing you. What answer do you get from “Will this work?” and what answer do you get from “Will this honour God?”
2. Where do the choices nobody sees reveal whose approval you are really living for?
Prayer
Father, thank You that my salvation is finished work and not an ongoing negotiation. Because I belong to You, make it my genuine ambition to please You. Redirect my drive rather than removing it. Teach me to ask not only whether something will work but whether it will honour You. Let that aim reach into my work, my attitude, my home and my conversations, and especially into the choices nobody else will ever see. And keep me from anxious perfectionism; I am Your child, not Your applicant. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Declaration
My highest ambition is to please the One who loved me. Wherever I go today, I live to make the heart of my Father glad.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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