Pleasing The Lord

PLEASING THE LORD

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!  For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.  Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8-10 NLT)

How does one carefully determine what pleases the Lord?  The way to know is to learn from the Scriptures what God says pleases Him.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever so we know He will never change. Obedience to His ways appears to be what the Lord requires of us.  When the children of Israel turned to wicked ways He let them go but His heart was always pursuing them with His unfailing love.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. (Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NLT)

God sent Jesus to earth to redeem us from the sin of our rebellion against His ways.  Over and over again God spoke that He was “well pleased” with Jesus.  This was because Jesus did what God asked Him to do.  He was obedient to death, even death on a cross.  God wants us to accept the work He gave His Son to do on the cross and, when we do, He offers us eternal life with Him forever. We can accept or reject the gift that God is offering us through His son.  God is pleased with us when we believe on His son and walk in His ways.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:9-11 NIV)

God requires us to believe in the finished work of the cross for our redemption from sin.  However, we make excuses for not obeying the Scriptures and we get ourselves into trouble and our lives become unmanageable.  When we turn back to God we find that He is still pursuing us with His love and offering us forgiveness through the shed blood of His beloved son.  What pleases God is that we come to Him and believe on His Son and do what He says. 

Jesus said, For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.  (John 6:40 NIV)

If you do what Jesus says you will truly be pleasing the Lord and His promise to you is that you will dwell with Him forever.  What a gift!  Have you received it?

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