Are you a God pleaser? Consciously? How do you know? Do you Do and say those things that would be pleasing to Him? Do you want to Be pleasing? Does it matter? How do you know you are pleasing? Have you looked into His book, the Bible, to discover what pleases Him, what He considers important? Obviously you don’t need to be pleasing, that is always your choice, but if it is important… do you act on it?
Be-ing pleasing is never a ‘goodie two-shoes’ or ‘brown-nosing’ activity. It always has to be an intentional, integral, and purposeful decision – who you are, what you do, and how you go about Be-ing and Do-ing in the world you live in. I would argue that it takes enormous confidence and strength to be a God pleaser. You can’t go against His standards. You can’t be cavalier about who and what you are and do in the day. You do have to be intentional and not succumb to the possible ridicule by others or equivocate your stand to be other people-acceptable. It really depends on Who you want to please, because I would also argue that it is inevitable to not be a pleaser… to someone, thing.
Presupposing you want to be a God pleaser, how do you go about being and doing this? It isn’t a robot based attitude or action, it is based in a deep conviction that God is Who He says He is. That Jesus is our propitiation for sin and allowing us to enter into relationship. The the Holy Spirit is working in our lives to help us live a fruitful and abundant life. The Triune God is and continues to be your foundation and stand. And that you have a manual, The Bible, to help discover what is important, what would be pleasing to Him.
Is it the same for everyone? Well, the decision is. The discovery is always personalized according to what understanding the person needs. The ultimate understandings are the same, the timing of the learning rarely is. And once learned, that’s not the end. There are layers to uncover, depths to plumb, and behaviors to develop. You never stop learning and exploring and discovering. The motivation? To discover what is important to God. To become pleasing to God. But, ohhhhh what an adventure this is. And what joy it brings you when you know that you are becoming what the Lord sees in you.
