Opening Verse
A Reflection on Daily Spiritual Living
Who are you really trying to please? Not who you say you are trying to please. Who does your calendar, your conversation, and your conscience actually answer to?
Every one of us lives for an audience. We adjust our words for the room, our choices for the crowd, and our convictions for whoever happens to be watching. The Christian life doesn’t remove the audience. It changes it. And when Paul wrote to a young church in Thessalonica, he put that change right at the center of the Christian walk:
“Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more”…1 Thessalonians 4:1
Notice that Paul doesn’t treat pleasing God as extra credit for the especially devoted. It is the walk itself. It is not only a Christian’s responsibility; it is an obligation. He told the Ephesians to keep “trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10), and he prayed for the Colossians to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects” (Colossians 1:10). And this was never a burden Paul placed on others that he didn’t carry himself. It was the very heartbeat of Jesus: “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him” (John 8:29). It was Paul’s own life ambition: “we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him” (2 Corinthians 5:9).
The question is never whether you are living for an audience. The question is whether that audience is God.
What Gets in the Way?
If pleasing God is the goal, why is it so hard to stay there? Scripture is honest about three things that pull us off course:
- Our weak and carnal nature. “The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God… and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).
- Persistent self-centeredness. We are called “not just [to] please ourselves,” because “even Christ did not please Himself” (Romans 15:1-3; cf. Philippians 2:3-4; 1 Corinthians 10:24).
- Our need to please others. Some in Jesus’ day believed in Him yet would not confess Him, “for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God” (John 12:42-43; cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:4).
Paul drew the line about as sharply as it can be drawn:
“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ”…Galatians 1:10
What Must We Strive For Daily?
Pleasing God is not a single decision made once at the water’s edge. It is a daily pursuit, and Scripture gives us four places to put our effort every day:
- Walk with God as Enoch did. “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24), and before he was taken “he was pleasing to God” (Hebrews 11:5).
- Do good to and for others. “Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:16; cf. Galatians 6:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:15), following the One who “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38).
- Live sanctified, separated from the world. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3; cf. 4:1-7; 1 Peter 1:13-16).
- Remember our accountability to God. Every word and every deed is headed toward a day of reckoning (Matthew 12:36; Romans 2:6, 16).
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad”…2 Corinthians 5:10
So How Do You Please God?
Scripture doesn’t leave us guessing. Again and again it tells us exactly what brings Him pleasure:
- By exalting Jesus Christ, His Son, the One of whom the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matthew 3:17; Colossians 1:15-19).
- By proclaiming the message of the cross, which is “the power of God,” to those being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5).
- By believing in God and His promises, because “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
- By asking for wisdom, as Solomon did, and “it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings 3:10; Colossians 1:9-14; James 1:5-8).
- By staying away from sexual sin (Ephesians 5:3-4, 10; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8).
- By sharing the gospel with unbelievers, seeking “the profit of the many, so that they may be saved” (1 Corinthians 9:14-27; 10:31-33).
- By giving to others in time of need, “an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:10-20; Hebrews 13:16).
- By submitting to authority, for obedience “is well-pleasing to the Lord” (Romans 8:7-8; Colossians 3:20; 1 John 3:22).
- By praising God for all things, which “will please the Lord better than an ox” (Psalm 69:30-31; Hebrews 13:15-16).
This truth isn’t just ancient doctrine. It speaks directly to us:
- Pleasing God is not optional. It is how Christians are taught to walk, and the call is to excel still more.
- Everyone lives for an audience. The distinctive Christian has settled that the audience is God.
- The flesh, the self, and the crowd will all compete for that seat. Name them, and refuse them.
- Pleasing God is daily work: walking with Him, doing good, living set apart, and remembering the judgment seat.
- God has not hidden what pleases Him. Exalt His Son, trust His promises, share His gospel, serve His people, and praise His name.
Closing Thoughts
What sets the Christian apart from the world? It isn’t complicated. It is living distinctively, the way God has defined our lives to be. It won’t always be easy. Most days it is a battle. But when we take on the mind of Christ and “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) in a manner pleasing to Him, we will be different from the world, and that difference brings glory and honor to God. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession (1 Peter 2:9). So before this week is over, ask yourself one honest question: when the lights go down, and the crowd goes home, whose applause am I still listening for?
