Pleasing God would appear to be something we feel inadequate to even consider. After all, are we not all sinners? Don’t we continue to sin and be forgiven almost daily? So the question is still. How can we please God the Father? We know that we are unable to be worthy of salvation on our own. We are forgiven of our sin only through His grace. But we do have the ability to please our God. As can be attested to throughout the Bible, we can please God. Enoch pleased God, Noah, Abraham, David these are just a few examples. All were human just as are we but, they pleased God so much that He used terms like, a friend, someone after My own heart, a good servant, etc. God recognized the love and devotion these people had for Him. As we can read through the Old Testament, how many times the children of Israel rebelled against God, then repented of their sins. God was always faithful to have mercy and deliver them from their enemies. The Lord God is not just some deity we know about. He is alive, vibrant in our lives. He is working all the time for each of us and our needs. His Holy Spirit lives in each believer. He fulfills His promises as we claim them. This is all done in His time and according to His will. He, after all, is our God, we belong to Him. We are to obey and serve Him. We are to be righteous because He has cleansed us and made us holy. Set apart from the evil of this world. This we can do with a very happy heart. It is not something we should see as work or a drudgery. Serving the Lord should make us elated. We, just think of it, we are allowed to serve the one living God and reap untold rewards. The Lord loves to bless those who truly love Him. Our desire to please God should be driven by love, as we are loved by Him. Certainly we have nothing to deserve His love, but we can be assured of His love anyway.
So the question is, how can we please God? Well by obedience, love, servitude, acceptance of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we do all this through faith. We obey because we want to. No one can force us nor should they. If God wanted that kind of service from us, He would simply make it happen. No, He wants us to want to love and serve Him. That is our choice to make.
Love: the Lord God wants us to love Him because He is God and loves us. He wants us to share that same kind of love with everyone. After all, we are all the same to Him. No one is any better than anyone else. We all have sins, just different. That does not make it any less a sin. Praise God that we don’t see us as He does before we are saved. I don’t think we could handle what we would see. We all can and do have the ability to love as He does, but we need to practice. This does not come naturally to us. But that was the point of being born again. We are to no longer live as we did, in this world. We became new creatures as the scripture says, so we are to act that way. Put off the old way and walk in the way of Jesus. This is our cross we are told to carry.
Servitude: Jesus showed us how to serve. He served the Father with pleasure. He did as He was instructed with a happy heart. This is more evident as He prayed in the garden before His death. His flesh was so painful about what was going to happen that He prayed hard. We all know that He asked that the cup be taken away. But He did not dwell on that, He wanted God’s will to be done. We are also asked to do things we are not comfortable with. We are instructed to forgive all people. To pray for our enemies. To love those who hate us. This is also against every fiber of our flesh. But we must always do as Jesus, let His will be done. So to please God takes an obedient heart, a willingness to love as He commands and the will to do so with a joyful heart. To do all He commands with a happy heart.
1 John 3:22 - And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
Hebrews 13:16 - But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Romans 8:8 - So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:5 - For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Romans 12:2 - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Proverbs 16:7 - When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Romans 12:1-2 - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service.
Psalms 19:14 - Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
Mark 12:33 - And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love [his] neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Colossians 1:9-10 - For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Hosea 6:6 - For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Psalms 40:8 - I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart.
John 8:29 - And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
John 5:30 - I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
1 Thessalonians 2:4 - But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
Philippians 2:12-16 - Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
We can all do this, it just takes effort. After all, isn’t God who we are trying to please? We can do our best simply by knowing scripture, God’s word and guide for us. We can please God by putting in practice that we have been taught by scripture. Being obedient to His commandments and those of Christ is enough. We can have peace of mind by knowing that living as close to Christ like as we can pleases God, but also, having faith is pleasing to our Lord. Seeking and doing the will of God pleases God. Always keep Him in our mind and that will guide our lives. The Lord said to pray about everything, we in doing this does that not keep the Lord in mind? God cares about everything in your life, not just the big things. Peter said to cast your burdens on the Lord because He cares. Jesus died for all and to bring salvation to all. But that is not the end of it. The Lord God is still active in each life that will allow Him in. We are not cut off from Him. His love for us is beyond understanding so don’t even try, just accept and believe. Then act in your belief with obedience. As it is written, love covers a multitude of sins. Just try living in love and then as you get better at that, you will find the words of Jesus are true. You w3ill discover that you have become obedient in many other aspects of your life as well.
May the peace of God be with all.
Amen