God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to
those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth
away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing
the wind. Ecclesiastes 2:26.
God gives wisdom…and other things that we
all value, like knowledge, to those who please Him. So I put pleasing God
high on my list of priorities. There is a passage in Romans that talks about
pleasing the Holy Spirit—that is God.
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature
think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit
think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature
control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind
leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It
never did obey God's laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still
under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you are not
controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have
the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the
Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.) Romans 8:5-9
So how do we please God? We can begin by honoring Him in all that we think (yes,
THINK), say and do. For the Kingdom of
God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of
goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ
with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too.
Romans 14:17-18
Pleasing God is the most important thing in
our lives—at least for me pleasing God is the most important thing in my life.
For we speak as messengers approved by God
to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people.
He alone examines the motives of our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 2:4
The motive of our heart…the motive of our
actions. I recently heard a Focus on the
Family radio program in which the guest author said that we needed to ask
our children “What motivated you to do that?” She gave an example of her two
sons arguing over a hairbrush. They were amazing in that the older one (9)
identified what was motivating his actions towards brother. Basically it was
just sibling rivalry. I just want to be better—I know I am already…so I’ll
prove it. the older boy apologized to his younger brother, without being ask to
do so. His repentant action was pleasing to the Lord. Selfish and self-centered actions don’t please
God. Are your actions, as well as your thoughts and words, pleasing to the
Lord?
Prayer
~ Lord, may all that I think, say and do be pleasing to You. Shower me with
Your blessings of wisdom, knowledge and joy.
© 2016 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT)
unless otherwise noted.
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