While spending this month considering God’s favor and wisdom, I’ve been continually reminded of a question I ponder often: how do we know if we are pleasing God?
Specifically, what is pleasing to God and how do we go about pleasing God? This is the subject of a post I started researching several months back, but never was able to really unify all the elements, so I put it on the back burner. This topic in the Year of Listening Up seems to be an appropriate fit, so now appears to be the right time to tackle the subject.
Pleasing God – Why it Matters
In the introduction message of R.C. Sproul’s 6-Part Teaching Series about Pleasing God, we are reminded of the overall goal of Christian living. Our purpose is to glorify God, so our every action must be intentional in bringing him honor and praise. This includes our interactions and relationships with others, how we use our gifts and the opportunities we are granted by God. This is true even of adversity and trials we are given.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. – I Cor. 10:31
Sproul further explains that we should live our whole lives in the face of God (Coram Deo) – meaning we should live it not under a veil of secrecy or darkness, but that it should be done in the full presence of God, under the authority of God, to the honor and glory of God.
When we are pleasing God, we are in relationship with him, seeking our divine calling and imitating his love for our neighbors.
Pleasing God by Pursuing our Calling
The idea of a personal calling from God has been explored often at 1Glories. That’s because the pursuit of your personal divine calling pleases God. God is the great provider, granting us all we need to live according to the Bible. In his grace, he gives what he commands and is pleased by the results of that (Hebrews 13:20-21).
The results are you and me living out our faith daily, loving one another and using the gifts he’s knitted into us.
Pleasing God by our Relationship with Him
It might sound a bit corny, but God desires to be your friend. This is because friends gain pleasure from being in one another’s company. Aaron was called God’s friend in 2 Chronicles 20:7 as well as in other places of scripture. Christ referred to his disciples as his friends in Luke 12:4.
So, what does it mean to be a friend? As I think about my life, I have many people with whom I have seen come in and out of it. I have a ton of people I am connected to on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and other networks, both online and off. I have coworkers and fellow members of groups. None of them are friends. They are mere acquaintances. Most have no idea where I live, what I enjoy, my hobbies or my ambitions. They are not my friends.
Admittedly, I do keep some (most) people at an arm’s distance, and that’s an area I need to work on.
God wants to be more than an acquaintance. He has no desire to be kept at an arm’s distance. He desires to be your friend. Being a friend of God is pleasing God.
Pleasing God by Imitating His Deeds
James Montgomery Boice says of Ephesians 5:1 that it’s the only spot in the Bible where we ar given specific words telling us to be “imitators of God” and that it is “standard beyond which there is no other” (Boice, Ephesians, 171). In other words, it’s a pretty tall order. One that is probably more profound that we will ever know.
Charles Spurgeon also had some strong thoughts on the subject.
If you are imitators of God, give, for He is always giving. Give, for if He were not to give, our lives would end. Give, for He gives unto all men liberally and upbraids not, and every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Be you imitators of God, the constant, generous Giver, who spared not His own Son. (C.H. Spurgeon)
Even Christ, in his absolute perfection, lived to please God and did so as an imitator of his father. In a similar way, albeit on a much smaller scale, we strive to imitate our own earthly fathers. For us to be imitators of God, though, we have to follow Christ’s example. That also means knowing God and his ways. And how do we do that? We spend time in prayer, studying the Word, being relational with others.
We must make the time to be with God – on our own and in community with others – and to know him.
Pleasing God with Christ as Our Example
Jesus Christ lived life, doing it perfectly and doing all to the glory of God. The Apostle Paul sought to do the same thing by following Christ’s example. We can imitate Christ by obediently walking in His footsteps (I Peter 2:21) and showing love and thankfulness to Him by staying true to his teachings and commands.
Make it a lifelong process. It really is one. We can and should start without having to first know it all. Because we never will. There is no textbook for personal experience. We experience God by doing and seeking his discernment… whoa! That’s a big word. Bottom line, God guides us and helps us understand as we move. Not as we lie dormant on a couch or hanging out in our own little personal kingdoms.
Please God by intentionally stepping out. Just one step. Move. Get going. One step leads to another. Before you know it, knowing and growing closer to God will be more comfortable and part of your nature.
And that will indeed be pleasing to God.