What Does God Like? Part 1 - Simple Obedience  

Posted by Jeff in ,

God is easily pleased.

Many people have trouble believing that, but it's true.  The Bible is very clear.  God is pleased - delights, even - in the simplest, most mundane acts of obedience.

Proverbs 11:1
1 Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight.

Let me be clear: if you do not belong to Jesus Christ, no amount of good works will do anything to make God accept you, let alone enjoy you.  God is not impressed by good works done by rebels who refuse to accept His leadership (1 Samuel 15:22).  But if you are on Jesus' team - that is, if you have decided that He is in charge of your life - and are sincerely seeking to obey Him, God is mostly happy with you most of the time.

We think of rules like "You shall not cheat your neighbor" (Leviticus 19:13) as being like the speed limit. The state police do not enjoy the fact that you keep the speed limit - even if you are the only one on the road who is.  But the eternal reality is that God enjoys those who keep His law.  Every little decision to say "yes" to His laws and His leadership is cause for rejoicing in heaven.  He is far more easily pleased than we are!

‘A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough... It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again," to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again," to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.’

- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 11:09 PM and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

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