Living to Please God
How you ought to live and please God. (I Thess. 4:1)
Thess. 4:1-11; Prov. 16:7; Jn. 8:29; Heb. 11:5 and 13:16
What Is God Saying?
One of the goals of religion is to be good enough that God will like us. This is the opposite of the truth of the Gospel. Religion (keeping a set of rules) is as remote from the Good News as unbelief. In the name of religion, people perpetrate acts of vengeance and hatred that are spawned in hell. Religion has been the launching pad of murder, bloodshed, and war. Religion is not the Gospel.
We are not saved by our good works, much less answering evil with evil and committing atrocities in the name of religion. We are saved for good works. We don't need to make God love us by being good. He already loves us. ‘God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Rom. 5:8)
How Does This Apply To Us?
The Good News does influence how we ought to live. We want to please God as an expression of thanksgiving. When we please God, our love answers God's love. In Christ, we have liberty. Freedom is one of our great joys, and yet God has not called us to uncleanness (Thess. 4:7). We please God when we draw our guidelines for living from Him. It pleases Him because it is a blessing for us.
Pray With Me
Lord, life is your gift to me. The way I live my life is my gift to you. Help me turn over to you both my life and the manner of my life. I must come to see that how I live is even more important than that I live. I must give you my life, not in words, but in deeds faithfully done. Anything less would be unworthy of my high calling in Christ. Anything less would keep me from rising to the full potential of your purpose for my life.
Remembering that my life has been reclaimed and purchased back, I must also not forget that there is a way to invest it that will please You, and there is a way that can only bring You pain. I love You, Lord, and I want to please You. Let me learn how I ought to live in Your mercy. Along that path of obedient trust, I would discover the joy of pleasing God. Nothing could ever compare with your words, ‘Well done.’ No reward should ever entice me away from the hope of seeing your smile. No lesser goal or god could ever fill my heart with the satisfaction that I know when I practice the presence of God and seek His good pleasure.
Let the path of righteousness be before me like the light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until full day. Until that day which shall be glorious with Your final triumph over evil and darkness, I will live as I ought to please the Lord whom I love.
In the all-sufficient grace of Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
Prayer is waiting upon God because He loves us. It is self-examination under the light of truth in God's Word, the foundation of His eternal love. What he wants for us is best for us. Prayer is the time we find out what that is. Prayer is how we receive the motivation and strength for living that pleases God and blesses us.
