Pleasing God 16th October
The other day as I was reading Ephesians I came across the phrase, “and this gave him (God) great Pleasure”. I thought how wonderful it was that something gave great pleasure to God. God has all things, is in himself complete and yet we can give him pleasure. – Wow! So this week I want to look at some of the things that please God.
Just be.
You probably thought you were going to get a list of things to do to please God, (and there will be some ideas) but first and foremost; just be his child. This pleases him enormously.
“For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own” 1Samuel 12:22 speaking to God’s people as a whole.
“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure” Ephesians 1:5
Just by being a child in God’s family, you give him great pleasure. I’m reminded of the huge party the father threw when his straying son returned in Jesus’ story of the prodigal son and Jesus said it was like that in heaven whenever one of us returns to God. And each day as we turn again to him, we please him.
I was planning these devotionals sat in a quiet garden at Drayton Manor Theme Park (is there such a place?). The question posed itself to me, “Is God more pleased with me sat here doing this than with those mad folk over there screaming their heads off on what I think are ghastly rides?” The answer had to be no. God takes pleasure in all his creation and is especially delighted with those who live in relationship with him, wherever they are.
So spend some time now, relaxing with God enjoying his pleasure in you as his child. Enjoy some quality Father/Son or Father/Daughter time. The real joy of it is we can do so throughout the day.
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