Pleasing God

2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away.”

Paul’s great ambition was to please his Lord and Savior. A great little study that I read Since this also is the great desire of every sincere Christian, let us look at a few of those passages where the Lord tells us specifically how we can please Him.

 Hebrews 13:16 “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

Philippians 4:18 “I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”

Colossians 3:20 “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”

2 Timothy 2:3-4 “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.”

The same word for pleasing appears in Romans 12:1-2, translated twice as “acceptable.” Paul urges us to present our bodies as living sacrifices, “holy, acceptable unto God,” being “not conformed to this world,” but transformed by a renewed mind, thereby to prove “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

 The common thread in these and other such passages is that, in order to be pleasing to the Lord, we must be good stewards of all our possessions and all our days, serving Him totally.

Romans 14:17-18 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.”

This is our reasonable service, and it will be abundantly repaid if we hear Him say in that day: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” – Matthew 25:21.

Have a blessed Sunday.

In Christ, Brian