PLEASE
“When
a man’s ways please the Lord,
he
maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.”
Proverbs
16:7
Paul admonishes us
in Romans 12:18 to do all we can to live peaceably with others. This verse in Proverbs gives us a good
indication of how to accomplish that.
Please the Lord. Sounds a bit
general, so let’s do a little investigate by coming up with a shortlist of
pleasing ways.
- Love
the Lord your God with all your heart.
- Love
others and treat them like you would want to be treated.
- Have
sound doctrine and live by it.
- Have
the right motivation and live by it.
- Keep
your life “flesh-free”.
- Use
common courtesy.
- Be
a person of kindness and integrity.
- Be
ready and willing to forgive.
- Mind
your own business.
- Help
those in need.
The list might go on
and on, but it can be summed up by the great command to love God and to love
others rightly. Enemies will have a hard
time arguing with a life that does right.
They may not be happy with us, but there can be a measure of peace
between us, even if we disagree. We can
agree to disagree and yet not be un-agreeable.
We can gain the respect of others and bring glory to the Lord if our
life exhibits His ways.
What about you? What would you add to the list of things that
are pleasing ways? Does your life make for peace around you? Can you disagree without being
disagreeable? Are your ways pleasing to
the Lord?
PLEASE
“…or
do I seek to please men?” Galatians 1:10
Sometimes, as God’s
servants, we become “people-pleasers” and forget that above all we should be
pleasing the Lord. Seeking to please men
does not lead us into the will and favour of the Lord. It usually leads us away and into an unhappy
trap characterized by discouragement, disillusionment, exhaustion and
confusion.
Like in this verse,
Paul is admonishing the Galatians to return to the gospel. It seems they have been torn away by others
who wanted them to stray to another gospel.
Paul reminds them of where they should stand and warns them about
forsaking their doctrine in order to please another. He goes as far as to say, “for if I yet
pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (vs. 10)
Those are pretty strong words.
There is no real place for compromise.
Either we are serving Christ, or, by trying to please others, we are not
serving Christ.
Standing faithful to
solid Bible doctrine will sometimes bring us into direct conflict. Jesus faced this and so did every apostle and
disciple in Bible times and believers through out history as they stood for the
truth of God’s Word. The warning against
being a “people-pleaser” is a real warning.
God requires whole-hearted devotion, not a fair weather faith. But he never said it would be easy or
unchallenged.
When you are called
upon to choose between pleasing men and pleasing God. Which do you choose? Can you stand true?
PLEASE
“…not
as pleasing men, but God which trieth our hearts.” I Thessalonians 2:4
Again, the
comparison of pleasing men or God is brought to our attention. Here in the letter to the Thessalonians, Paul
continues in the following verses to rehearse character qualities he adhered to
as he worked among men. He did not use
flattery (v 5). He was not self-seeking
(v 6). He was gentle (v 7). He was generous and giving (v 8). He worked hard (v 9). He lived with integrity (v 10). He was an encourager and comforter (v
11).
These all sound like
qualities that would please men, and surely they would, but Paul’s motivation
did not lay there, but in a higher accounting.
He lived by this standard because he knew the final account for his life
and ministry would be before God alone.
God would try his heart.
Christ again is our
example. Jesus did everything right in
order to please his Heavenly Father.
And, though he was without sin, some men were still offended. Guess it is true, “You can please some people
some of the time…...”
However, we can
please God as we live with this truth in focus.
We will all give account of ourselves unto God. (Romans 14:12) We need not compare ourselves by any other
standard, or by what we see as the actions of others, because in the end we
will all answer solely for ourselves – not our children, not our spouses, not
our friends or enemies, but for ourselves alone.
What standards do
you apply to your life? Are they pleasing
to God? Do you judge yourself by God’s standard or men’s?
PLEASE
“So
then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:8
If our goal and
motivation is that of Paul – to live so as to give a pleasing account to God –
then it must be understood that the flipside would produce the contrary result. A life lived to the will of the flesh would
result in an unpleasing account. To
please God means to live our Christian life – yes, every area of our life –
acceptable before God.
A quick study on the
works of the flesh straight away defines and illustrates what works and actions
are considered unacceptable before God.
Have a quick read of these from Galatians 5:19-21: Adultery,
Fornication, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness, Idolatry, Witchcraft, Hatred,
Variance, Emulations, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, Heresies, Envying, Murders,
Drunkenness, Revelling.
And Romans 1:29-31:
Unrighteousness, Fornication, Wickedness, Covetousness, Maliciousness, Envy,
Murder, Debate, Deceit, Malignity, Whispering, Backbiting, Hating God,
Despiteful, Proud, Boasting, Disobedient to parents, Covenant breaking, Without
natural affection, Implacable, Unmerciful.
It is amazing to see
things we consider ordinary sins and big sins included in the same list. That is because ALL of the works of the flesh are not pleasing to God. Allowing them to be a part of our life
emphatically means that we are not pleasing and cannot be pleasing to God.
Stop and think. What fleshly attitudes and sins are resident
in your life? What if you had to give
account of your life this moment? Would you be able to give a pleasing account? What needs to go so that you can be pleasing
to God?
PLEASE
“But
without faith it is impossible to please him…”
Hebrews 11:6
To please or be
pleasing is to prove oneself useful to the good of another. It is to win favour with others by our
actions. Pleasing God by our life of
faith brings Him the glory. He is pleased,
as we trust Him fully. Truly, if we do
not trust Him, he is not pleased.
We’ve been talking
about actions that are pleasing, but it does go deeper than just our outward
actions. There is to be an inward source
for those actions else we might seem to be manipulative person or an
“eye-pleaser” – one who does right on the outside while others are looking and
then resort to the works of the flesh when we think no one will see. God is not pleased with this because He knows
the heart – he sees the hypocrisy. We
cannot hide from Him…all things are open to Him.
God wants us to do
our dealings from a heart of faith. A
heart that says, “I will do right…no matter the cost…out of love and trust in
my Saviour.” He wants our motivation to be pure – not self-seeking.
The verse goes on to
say that God will reward those who diligently seek Him. A heart and life that is pleasing to God is
one that is right on the inside and that does right on the outside based solely
upon the pure desire to honour and please God.
“…with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” Hebrews 13:16
It is a life of integrity lived by faith.
Are you pleasing in
your inward motivations? Do you act by
faith and love without thoughts of manipulation or hypocrisy? Is God pleased with your true motivation in
life and in service?
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