by Jacob Ninan
First of all, I would like to clarify a misunderstanding some people have about this. This misunderstanding comes because the way a large number of people try to connect with God is through doing different things which, they hope, will please their god. Some people try to make their god happy because they think that some calamity has come to them because they displeased that god. Some others are trying to do things that they assume will make their god pleased with them, in order to earn his favour and to get something from him.
But when we Christians say we want to be pleasing to God, the meaning is completely different. Our God is already happy with us, not because we have not done anything displeasing to Him, but because our relationship has been set right already from His side through the salvation that Jesus has brought. Our sins have been forgiven, we have been adopted as God's children, God has begun to bless us in many ways, etc. We are not standing here with uncertainty about what God thinks about us, or what He would do to us. We are fully confident that He is good, He has promised never to leave us, and that all His plans for us are for our good. We are also not trying to convince Him to give us something special that we want, by trying to flatter Him, impress Him, or convince Him through arguments. We are happy to know that He loves us, and that things are right between Him and us.
Now when we want to be pleasing to God, it is our trying to understand the things He likes, and doing them, because we love Him and we want to please Him. It is also because what we mean by doing things that are pleasing to God is another way of saying that we want to do what is the right thing to do. When we do things that are right, He is happy. This is what the Father said about the Son, (Heb.1:9). Indeed, if we have no real desire to be pleasing to God in this way, it does show that we don't really know Him or love Him (Jn.14:21).
As we go through different aspects of seeking to be pleasing to God, let us examine ourselves to see where we personally stand. It is a sad thing that the preaching of the Gospel has been distorted so much these days that many people who think they have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ do not have the kind of relationship that Jesus came to give us. For example, many people seem to be thinking of only what they can get from God – a place in heaven and escape from hell, provision for a super-comfortable life on earth, protection from calamities and sickness, etc. They have not seen themselves as sinners who stand deserving the judgment of God, and they have not turned away from their sinful life to a life of submission to God. They are not seeking to know God better and get closer to Him to enjoy fellowship with God. They are not making any effort to find out what God wants them to do in different areas of their life. One thing that can be observed with such people is that they are always full of complaints against God, instead of overflowing with gratitude for what He has done for them.
Some factors to consider
Gratitude
If we have been truly born again, one thing we would understand clearly is what we really deserve and what God has given us instead. I used the words "If we have been truly born again" deliberately, since I have painfully come to conclude that a large percentage of people who assume that they are Christians are not really so, because only those who are born again can be in the kingdom of God (Jn.3:3). Those who are born again have seen themselves as sinners who were hopeless in their sin till Jesus came, took their punishment on Himself and forgave them. They have seen what they deserved as judgment from God as eternity in hell, and now they see the blessings Jesus has given them – eternal life, cleansing of all their sins, adoption as children of God, freedom from the guilt and shame of sin, increasing freedom from bondage to sin, fellowship with God as their Father, receiving many brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, getting a meaning and purpose in life, value and significance as children of God, etc. How do we respond to a Person who has suffered and given His life in order to make these blessings available to us? I think what Paul said is extremely fitting (2Cor.5:14,15). Till Jesus came into our life we used to live for ourselves, doing whatever we pleased, enjoying pleasures even when we had to sin to get them. Now we turn from that life, and from now onwards we want to live in such a way as to please this Lord and Saviour of our life. Whenever we realise that something that we are thinking of doing is actually displeasing to God, we want to give that up, even if it is something that will cause us setbacks in this world. The more we see what Jesus has done for us and the more we understand what will be pleasing to Him, the quicker we become to deny ourselves and do His will. Whenever we find ourselves weak to deny ourselves and to choose Jesus above everyone and everything else, we cry out to the Holy Spirit to strengthen us. That is how we will become more and more like our Master.Seeing ourselves in relation to God
If many people want Jesus to be their Saviour, not all of them are willing to recognise Him as their Lord and Master. Many people want Jesus to help them in their lives, but they want to live the way they want. They are not willing to submit to the authority of Jesus. They want Him to help them, forgive them, protect them, provide for them and handle their problems, but they want to hold the steering wheel of their lives. How can we learn to change if we are in that position? First of all we must realise that we are dealing with God who created us. We exist because He has given us life. As such, He has absolute power over us to do to us what He chooses. He is the One who decides what is good or bad for us, and He has every right to tell us to obey Him. In the end, He is going to be our Judge too, to whom all of us will have to give an account for everything we have done in our life (1Pet.1:17;Rom.14:12).Actually, when we came to God acknowledging ourselves as sinners in front of Him, and received forgiveness as a favour from Him that we did not deserve, we must also realise that we have no rights of our own before Him. We are not in a position to bargain with Him, argue with Him or insist that He must do what we want. God has purchased us from the hands of Satan by paying the blood of Jesus for us. We do not even own our own lives. Some Christians who misunderstand the privileges God has granted to us, as if they are our rights, begin to act as if they have become powerful enough to make things happen by commanding or declaring them! Not at all! Power belongs to God, and even though as His children He has given us some authority to use His power in order to do His will, we do not have that power in ourselves.
The right position for us to take is as privileged recipients of God's unmerited favour towards us, His grace, and learn to bow down before Him in holy reverence. Then we will realise that the only way we can live is in humility, depending on God, doing His will in everything and thus pleasing Him.
Sowing and reaping
It is not only with the judgment of God that we have to do, but we have to also deal with this law of life that there are consequences for everything we do (Gal.6:7,8). God has created us with the free will to be able to choose what we will do, but we cannot choose to avoid the consequences of what we do. As a natural example, what we eat, the exercises we give our body and the rest we take have a lot to do with what the condition of our health is going to be later. It may not be obvious immediately, but the consequences will certainly come. Many people who over-indulged themselves in their youth will have to suffer the results in their old age.But you know that I am not primarily talking about physical effects. The many choices that we make have spiritual consequences (Rom.8:13). In other words, if we do the will of God, we will partake a little more in His life, His nature, His character, and if we choose to please ourselves, we will suffer spiritual death. Because our mind is corrupted by sin, we may not always understand such consequences about what we are about to do. We may think that nothing will happen, or that we can handle whatever may happen. But then, we are only thinking in terms of natural consequences, and we don't consider the spiritual consequences at all! But spiritual consequences are which are more serious. While we are alive here on earth we have the opportunity to make right choices and partake of God's nature. God is also working for us, causing all situations to work together in such a way that we get these opportunities to become more like Jesus. That is the meaning of Rom.8:28,29.
If we are not alert to recognise these opportunities that God brings our way – they may come even in the form of adversities – how much regrets we will have later on! But we can look for these opportunities if we have made a determination in our heart and mind to be always pleasing to God (2Cor.5:9).
Earth vs. eternity
Why do we need to hear the exhortation from Col.3:1,2? We need to hear this frequently because for us, the earth is much more real than eternity. We think we have to deal with the challenges we face in this life first, and only in our leisure time we can afford the luxury of thinking of heaven. The pressures of this life demand immediate responses from us. Of course, we must admit that we have to deal with our present situations and also plan for our future in this life. We cannot imagine that if we just read the Bible, pray and go to church, God will take care of everything in our life. Some people misunderstand what Jesus said, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matt.6:33). They think that we must leave everything to God and He will arrange everything for us. No. What Jesus meant in the context of that verse is that we should not worry about things like unbelievers do. God is our Father, and He will take care of us. No, whatever situations we come across in our life, it is we who have to make the choices in those situations. For example, we have to choose, as much as we understand the will of God, who we are going to marry, which job we are going to take, where we are going to stay, what friendships we will have, etc.There are two factors we have to consider here. In the choices that we make in our earthly situations, we must be conscious of how they affect our eternity (1Cor.10:31). For example, if we do sinful things or compromise in the way we try to manage our life here, that will certainly have an effect on our eternity. We cannot excuse ourselves by saying various things such as, we have to do certain things if we have to live in this world, everybody does it, etc. No, others may do it, but we are accountable to God. When we have the right priority in our life, pleasing God is most important for us. We cannot do anything where we have to displease God.
The second factor is that there is a plan and purpose God has made for each of us. He will show them to us and lead us in that direction when we seek Him. God has different plans for each one of us in the body of Christ through which He is working now in this world. All are not to be preachers or pastors, but everyone has something to contribute. But what can happen is that we are so occupied with our life on earth, how to make more money, how to get promotion, how to enjoy ourselves, etc., that we forget about this. Then God's plans do not get accomplished through us. He will find someone else to do what He wants, but then we will lose the privilege and the blessings.
Self sacrifice vs. wanting God to serve us
After we decide that we want to be pleasing to the Lord, how it has to work out in practice is that we have to sacrifice our own will in order to do His will (Ro.12:1). Many people are not willing to make that sacrifice, because their idea of God is as someone who will be there to do what they ask from Him! But if we do that, we will be pleasing ourselves rather than God. Denying ourselves is a fundamental part of following Jesus and becoming like Him, and without that decision to follow Jesus and be pleasing to Him in everything, we will only be fooling ourselves thinking that we are Christians or Christ followers (Lk.9:23).Conclusion
As the Son of God, the top priority for Jesus was to do the will of the Father and to be pleasing to Him (Jn.4:34;(Jn.8:29). Let us learn from Him. May we learn to be willing to sacrifice our own will in order to be pleasing to God. Everything will begin to go better for us then. We will be responding to what God has done for us, and also preparing for eternity by choosing the narrow way that leads to life.