Living a Life That Pleases God
Living a life that pleases God for me sometimes includes visions of naughty or nice. That’s especially true when Christmas traditions remind me there are two lists where my name might appear.
I’ve got that all wrong. He is my heavenly Father and I am His child. He likes nothing better than to give me presents all year long. I don’t have to wait in anticipation for Him to declare on Christmas morning that I’m on one list or the other.
Although, I do want to please Him. An ought-to list isn’t required to stay in His good graces. I was all-in with Him the moment I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. He’s pleased with His Son and that I made the right decision for eternity.
So, what do you do to please God?
Living a Life That Pleases God: Come As You Are
Our Father in heaven knows where every wart is, every misstep and the whereabouts of anything you hide in your spiritual closet. There’s no pretense with Him and He wants you and me to approach Him the same way—freely.
As scripture implies, we come when we’re weary, heavy laden and without money or a place to sleep. When we are brokenhearted, He says “Come.” When life has us in tangles or we’re suffering by our misdirected choices, He still says, “Come.” He’s in love with us—just as we are. He sees us differently than we see ourselves.
He sees us already whole when we don’t have a smidgen of truth to support wholeness. He sees the blood of Jesus covering and washing us clean. We don’t see ourselves the same way. Jesus says, “It is finished” and God doesn’t shake His finger at us every time we mess up—even though, we take detours from time to time.
Living a Life That Pleases God: Stop Sinning.
Sin separates us from God because He can’t look at it. He can’t associate with darkness because He is light. When Jesus carried sin and sickness on the cross, God had to turn away. Darkness covered the Earth and Jesus felt separated from His Father. That’s why Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me” (Read Psalm 22).
Those hours away from His Father were tortuous for Jesus as they were for His Father. The same is true when we turn away from Him and sin at will. Christians have a way out so we don’t sin. When temptation comes, we can decide we won’t engage in sinful activities. If we sin, we repent.
We keep pressing in closer to God so we don’t give sin a chance to capture us. It does you know. Sin entices our senses and convinces our bodies that we’re missing out on fun. It’s the same old story the devil uses so we forfeit the better plan waiting for us.
Living a Life That Pleases God: Strive for Holiness.
- Get your body in line. A Christian’s body is meant to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. I’ve detailed how to do that in “How to Honor God with Your Body.”
- Continue bearing good fruit. Maybe doing so seems too hard or out of step with your friends and family. Bearing good fruit is a choice and commitment you make in your heart. Christ carried us away from sin so we could become holy. Jesus chose us instead of Himself. Two criteria are uppermost to bear fruit: Love others and lead others to Christ.
- Abide in Jesus. Seems simple enough until you run crossways with the world and people. It’s easy to sing praises to God when no one is around to rub you the wrong way. The only way to stay sweet is to commune with Jesus, God, and The Holy Spirit regularly. Sometimes, minute by minute.
- Share, pray, and help. Give of yourself, your possessions, and anything that wins people to Christ by your behavior. Pray for the governing authorities even if you didn’t vote for them. Uphold them with prayer so God can work in their lives.
- Increase in the knowledge of God. People write off God because they have no idea who He is. When you have a dynamic relationship with Him, He shares more about Himself which influences every decision you make.
And, Discern What God Likes
Faith is big on God’s list of what we can do to please Him. When you move forward based only on His Word (scripture) and nothing else, that’s faith. Enduring trials and waiting for further instructions keeps you in a right relationship with God.
Then, you’re in a position to commune with Him and find out more about what He likes. He will let you know straight away.
According to Galatians 1:10, He doesn’t like us seeking the approval of man. Romans 8:8 states that anyone who lives in the flesh, can’t please God. Hebrews 13:16 indicates we should do good and share.
To find out what God likes boils down to wanting to please Him. If you don’t have the desire to do so, you won’t.
And by the way, Jesus, we say Happy Birthday and Thank You not just on Christmas morning, but every day. It’s a pleasure to please You.