Being a God Pleaser

UV 2848/10000 Being a God-Pleaser
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Galatians 1 v 10

We are called to be God-pleasers not man-pleasers. With that in mind, we are to always work and live for the approval of the Lord and not try to be liked or popular with people. We can please God only if we obey Him sincerely from our hearts. He is the only one who knows and tests our hearts. He knows the motive behind every thought and intent of ours. If we are friends of the world, we become enemies of God and vice versa. Hence, being a servant of Christ does not improve our approval ratings. Rather, it would displease the people who are entrenched in this world for oil and water cannot mix. A servant of Christ is often mocked, ill treasted, oppressed even though he poses no threat to anybody and is endeavouring to be a blessing to this world in different ways.

If we win the favour of the Lord, we need not be overly concerned about whether peole like us or not. In fact, scripture promises that if we please the Lord, He wil eventually turn our enemies into friends. Having said that, we should be ready to face resistance, hostility and antagonism from the people of this world. As servants of Christ, we should be prepared to face such rejection even as the Lord Himself was rejected by His own people. Our focus is an Audience of One- the Lord. If He is with us and for us, no one can be permanently against us. He will deliver us from hostile situations and the weapons of those who are displeased with us. Contrarily, if He is not for us and with us, no one can deliver us.

The uni-verse implies that we should endeavour with all our hearts and all our strength to seek the perfect will of the Lord, not His permissive one and then go forth and do it. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to understand what is His perfect will in specific situations especially when we have more than one or two choices. We need to please Him not only with our decisions or choices but with our lifestyle, our speech or conversation, our actions, our behaviour. Indeed, “Who so offereth praise glorifieth God and to him who ordereth his conversation (and conduct) aright, will I show the salvation of God..” When we praise and worship the Lord in spirit and truth and in the beauty of a righteous life, He is pleased and He will endorse us by sending the dove-like presence of the Holy Spirit upon us, saying, “This is my beloved son or daughter.” When we order our conversation and conduct on the lines and according to the principles and precepts enshrined in the Word of God, we please Him and He will “show His salvation” implying that He will make manifest His saving power and grace in awesome ways in our lives. The more we resemble Jesus in all aspects of our lives, the more we please the Lord Almighty.

Prateep V Philip