On the surface, living a life that is centered around pleasing others might sound like the noble and charitable thing to be doing, perhaps even the ‘Christian’ thing to do. But if pleasing God first and foremost is not your chief aim in life, I have a hunch that at the end of this road we call ‘life’, you might find yourself feeling shallow, empty, and used up.

In fact, if you are not careful, you could very well hear those dreaded words that all you did was ‘unprofitable’...and then: ‘depart from Me, I never knew you’. (1 Cor. 13:2-3; Matt. 7:22-23). Yeah...take a moment with that one if you will.

As I pointed out in yesterday’s message, striving to please people can be a clever masquerade to cover your true heart’s motive that seeks to please one’s self first and foremost; and trust me...it can be a very fine line there that escapes our notice.

Were you aware that living a life that focuses on pleasing other people can actually become a bondage? Yet living a life that is centered around wanting to please God is liberating in ways you may have never thought possible. Scripture actually has much to say on this topic.

Consider these statements made by Paul in various letters of his: “We make it our aim... to be well pleasing to Him (God)” (2 Cor. 5:9).

“Do I seek to please men? If so...I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10)

“Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you.” (1 Thess. 4:1 NLT)

In the parable of the Ten Virgins, told by Jesus and found in Matt. 25, we see a picture of a ‘church’ that grew drowsy and fell ‘asleep’, just prior to the return of the ‘bridegroom’. During a time of great darkness (midnight) a warning cry was made and all ten ‘virgins’ woke up (6), five of them labeled as ‘foolish’ and the other five as ‘wise’. We are told in that story it was the wise virgins who had a supply of oil and finished making themselves ‘ready’ (10) before entering through the door to the wedding. The foolish virgins did not fare so well.

I don’t know if any short pep talk or Bible lesson was given to those ten virgins when they woke up, but for anyone who has been reading here for any length of time and is starting to ‘wake up’, I would probably recommend Ephesians 5 as a good chapter to read to help you find your bearings for such a time as this. You’ll understand why that is if you take the time to read it over soon.

In that chapter, we are reminded that we were ‘once darkness but now are light in the Lord, and we should walk as children of light’ {8}. We are then admonished to “find out what is pleasing to the Lord” (10); and it should go without saying that ‘doing’ what pleases God would be strongly encouraged.

Then comes the call to ‘wake up’ (14)...and ‘don’t be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is’ (17), because in the end, here comes that reminder once more how Christ is coming for a bride that is “holy, without blemish, not having spot or wrinkle and blameless” (27). I don’t know about you, but I’m ‘not there’ yet (1 John 1:8; Jer. 17:9; Phil. 3:12).

Friends...do you recall the voice from heaven that was heard when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River? “You are My beloved Son; and in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22).

Can you imagine hearing any other words that would be more fulfilling, than to hear God say that about you? And notice this was not about being pleased with things or works that Jesus had done or accomplished. Yet, because of this mutual love shared between Father and Son, Jesus made it His goal and purpose to do only what the Father asked of Him (John 12:49; 14:31)...and that He only “does those things that please Him” (John 8:29).

So when Paul is close to finishing his letter to the Romans, he exhorts us all to “not seek to please ourselves, for Christ did not please Himself” (15:1-2). And may I remind you once again that anyone who professes to be ‘abiding in Jesus...ought himself to walk as He walked’ (1 John 2:6).

I would  hope that you would earnestly desire to know what ‘pleases God’...so you in turn could make that your aim as well. Because once you begin to pursue pleasing God above all things and all people, your life will begin to experience some radical changes. And make no mistake about it...one can easily ‘believe in Him’, but still seek the approval and praise of people more than...the approval and/or praises of God’ (John 12:43).

So before we try and decipher what scripture tells us what those things are that do please God, let’s first take a short look at what hinders us ...from doing this.

“Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). Can I remind you again, that true ‘faith’ involves just a tad bit more than saying you believe Jesus is the Son of God who died on a cross for the sins of the world?

Turn with me now, to Romans 8. Paul is explaining in this chapter how one is actually ‘delivered from this body of death’ that he was lamenting about in the previous chapter (7:24). He breaks it down explaining the difference between the ‘spiritual mind’ and the ‘carnal mind’. To be carnally minded ( a mind set on the flesh) is to make oneself actively hostile towards God (8:7)...and “those who are in (or remain in) the flesh...cannot please God. Would you mind underlining that in your Bible, please?

Now if you’ve been taught your entire Christian life that you will always have this ‘flesh nature to contend with’ and that you will always continue to stumble and yield to it and sin on ‘this side of heaven’, then verses like the ones I am pointing out here create a challenging dilemma for most of us. Because if that is the case, you will never be able to ‘please God’, so then the focus shifts and you will begin to walk in a ‘form of godliness’ while doing ‘works to appease Him’. That...my friends is nowhere close to what God had intended nor designed for us to experience. Meet me back here tomorrow?