Life that pleases God (1)

By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi

The pursuit of heaven-bound believers is to please the Lord. Apostle Paul emphasised the necessity of pleasing the Lord and not men in our lives, ministry work. Pleasing men instead of God disqualifies us from being the servants of Christ. The evidence that we love God is in pleasing Him with our heart, soul and mind, which is the result of our Christian experiences of salvation, sanctification and Holy Ghost baptism. We need faith to please God. “Without faith it is impossible to please him.”

Sinners cannot please the Lord without the foundational experience of salvation obtained by grace.

Religion, tradition and holding onto certain doctrines of the Bible do not amount to pleasing the Lord. Conversely, until a believer lays self on the altar, he cannot please the Lord fully. Occupying a particular position in the ministry does not make anyone please the Lord. We begin to please God when we totally submit ourselves to Him in faith. To have a good relationship with the Lord as members of the body of Christ, pleasing Him should be uppermost in our heart.

Faith enables us to please the Lord. It transforms us, brings the grace of God into our lives and hearts, and gives us the mind of Christ. Through saving faith, He grants us the privilege to become children of God. Only then can we have the disposition, decision, devotion and direction to please God alone. Just as Enoch and our Lord Jesus Christ pleased God, if we please Him, God will also testify concerning us. With the mind of Christ and His nature in us, we should live and walk to please God. We should understand that the higher our calling, the greater our faith should be. After salvation, our faith needs to increase so that we would bear whatever persecution and challenge that come our way.

We have clear examples in the Bible of the life of faith that pleases God. This involved both Cain and Abel who offered sacrifices to God. He rejected the offering of Cain and accepted that of Abel because, “By faith [he] offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice.” In spite of the corruption, defilement and contradiction of sinners around him, Enoch walked consistently with God in righteousness and according to His will. This was possible because he was in agreement with God. Constant, daily and practical agreement with God makes us to please Him.

Walking with Him demands lively, active and dynamic faith. Faith that is dead, dumb, dormant, devilish, man-centred and self-centred cannot please God. Faith must go with action and practical evidence. By faith, Noah prepared “an ark to the saving of his house …and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” As we hear about heaven, hell and the Second Coming of Christ, though we have not seen any of these, we should believe the report. Like Noah, our faith in the word of God will make us serve the Lord acceptably “with reverence and godly fear.”

When God called Abraham to leave the known for the unknown, he “obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” Every believer needs such demonstration, concentration and confirmation of faith. Only faith in God through Christ’s atoning sacrifice pleases God. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph all pleased the Lord because they had faith in God. Faith turns us away from sin to the Saviour, from self to the Sanctifier, from the world to the Lord, from the devil to the Conqueror and Captain of our salvation, and from every object or personality to Christ alone. Unlike in the Old Testament period, we have so much encouragement, grace and examples to demonstrate greater faith, today. We can surely walk and live by faith if we focus our attention on God and hold the testimony of our faith “without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;).”

• Further Reading (KJV): Hebrews 11:6; Galatians 1:10;1 Thessalonians 2:4; Romans 8:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:15; Isaiah 2:6; Judges 14:3; Hebrews 11:5,6; Matthew 3:17; 17:5; John 8:29;Philippians 2:5; Hebrews 11:4; 9:22; 11:5; Genesis 5:22-24; Amos 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; James 2:17,19,20,26; Hebrews 11:7; 12:28; 11:8; Isaiah 51:2; Hebrews 11:11; 10:23.