Young kids like to please their parents, loving wives look for ways to please their husbands, wise husbands learn what pleases their wives, and good employees want to please their boss.

Not everyone cares about pleasing others. On one level we understand that. We can’t live our life always worried about what other people think or want.

Yet on a different level, everyone who cares about having loving relationships or a successful career makes pleasing other people a natural part of what they do. Not caring about what pleases the people in our lives can be a form of selfishness and often leads to failed relationships or career suicide.

The art of living includes learning to balance the need to please others with the need to be who God created us to be. One does not exclude the other when done wisely and humbly.

So I’m intrigued by Ephesians 5:10, which says this: “Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.”

I’m not sure we spend a lot of time thinking about what pleases God. The Bible talks about living a godly life (I Thessalonians 4:1) and having faith (Hebrews 11:6) as things that please God. Since there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than there is over 99 righteous people who don’t need to repent, I’m confident that telling people how to repent and believe in Jesus pleases God. The master in one of Jesus’ parables bragged on those servants who had been faithful (Matthew 25), so it’s clear that putting our talents and money to good use in God’s kingdom pleases God.

Is there something in your life God has been directing you to do that you haven’t done? Would it please God if you did it? Then why haven’t you done it yet?

After all, the Lord is our Father and we are His children. It would seem that pleasing Him would be a natural impulse to us.

Pastor Steve Hogg