What Pleases God?

The term “follow your heart” is so prevalent in our culture that it almost gets into our own hearts as Christians, doesn't it? But clearly God's Word gives us a different direction, a better direction. If all creation is moving in the direction of what pleases Him, shouldn’t we also be focusing our hearts, as well as our minds and actions, on what pleases Him as well?


While there is no doubt this truth runs in direct opposition to what the confused culture and our selfish hearts want, it also holds such wonderful peace and joy in it. To me, one of the keys to love, peace and joy (which is what the culture is seeking by the term "follow your heart" isn't it?) is found in this verse.

When we were growing up and we first began to learn to ask for something, what was the first thing that our parents taught us to say first? Please. They taught us manners through the word, but they were also teaching us something else. Using this word taught us that to ask for something is to ask the person to share what they have with us. We were saying we would delight in the thing we are asking for, understanding we might not receive it. We learned that asking without using please (or other such language) could easily become rude and selfish.

Being trained to ask kindly for something also taught us lessons in humility.

Now of course, God does what he pleases and He never needs to say please, so why am I talking about humility here? Because when Jesus came to earth it says he came with humility and didn’t even consider equality with God something to be grasped (Philippians 2:6), even though he was equal with God.

So when we take on the mind of Christ, which we have been given in Him (Philippians 2:5), we are to take on this humility. And to take it further, we are to live in a way that pleases our heavenly Father, just like Christ did.

We could never understand how to live in humility properly, except for God’s incredible grace. This is why we study the life of Christ by reading Scripture fervently and trying to love others like Him in humility. It teaches us what pleases God. Learning what pleases God allows us to put aside our own wishes in order to find our true heart's desire, which comes from living a life wholly for Him.

If you're joining along with us in this week's memory verse, happy memorizing!