“When “the day of the Lord” comes (and I think it will come sooner than we think), the only thing that will matter is that you and I have glorified Him on earth and have finished the work that He has given us to do individually. To glorify Him means to live in such a way that our lives truly demonstrate who He is. One of my weaknesses is seeking to please people—trying to keep everyone happy—and I have to remember that it is God whom I have to serve. He alone must be my God! If not, I’m not demonstrating who He truly is! Am I—are we—doing what He has called us to do, to be? Or are we trying to fulfill the expectations of others? God is our director—and our audience. We only have to please Him. Jesus could say what He said in John 17:4 because He always and only pleased the Father—not Himself, not His family, not His friends, not His associates, not the crowd. The question comes to us, then: “How am I going to know what pleases Him?” His answer is simple…and yet not so simple. Simple in that we’ll know His will if we learn to meet with Him each day and listen to His Word. First we must be in His book—the Bible. Second, we must seek and ask His direction; then we must be still so that we can hear His still, small voice which tells us, “This is the way…walk in it.” Jesus’ habit was to get alone with the Father. And this is where the answer to “How am I going to know what pleases Him?” is not so simple. There’s so much noise, so much pressure—there are so many people pulling on us—that being alone and quiet can be a major battle. But the battle must be won. If it’s not, then the wrong things will matter, and we won’t be able to say we have glorified Him on earth and have finished the work He’s given us to do. When that happens, our lives will be lived at man’s direction, and we’ll never satisfy our human audience. Therefore, let’s give Him thanks and do whatever is necessary to live according to His will and direction. Nothing else really matters! We are accountable only to an audience of One. “Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever” (Psalm 86:11-12).”
Kay Arthur is an international Bible teacher, four-time Gold Medallion award-winning author, and founder of Precept Ministries International.
Kay and her husband, Jack, were serving as missionaries in Mexico in the late 1960s when medical problems forced them to return to their hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. There Kay led a Bible study for teenagers in their living room. Soon the Bible study started meeting in a barn and attracting adults too. Soon after, Jack left his radio career to help expand his wife’s ministry into Precept Ministries International.
Hundreds of thousands of people are reached internationally through the "Precept upon Precept" inductive Bible studies series. In addition, Kay Arthur hosts daily and weekly television programs which air on over 900 stations in 30 countries around the world.
Kay also founded Transform Student Ministries. Transform Student Ministries is an equipping outreach of Precept Ministries International to high school and college age students. They exist to fulfill Precept’s mission and vision to each new generation: To establish people in God’s Word.