The more I have studied the Bible the more aware I have become of how important it is to God that we have an obedient spirit.   In the forth chapter of Genesis God is pleased with Abel because of his offering by giving the best.  God was displeased with Cain because he gave God what was left over.  God said to Cain “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” We must be willing to master sin that encourages us to put ourselves first and to become disobedient to God and others.  Can we do it in our own strength?  Probably we will not be able without the help of the Holy Spirit.  It was also Adam and Eve’s disobedience that caused their downfall.

We continue in Scripture and God makes very clear the importance of obedience: in Acts 13:22b – “God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’”  Almost everyone in the Bible that God blessed, we read of their willingness to do whatever God asked.  We read of Jonah and the great fish that God used to get Jonah to become obedient.   However, he finally obeyed God.  Gideon had to ask God for signs (fleeces) to confirm what God was telling him to do. Was it really God that wanted him to do what he believed was impossible.  Once the signs confirmed it was God, Gideon did exactly as God had asked.

We must realize the importance of doing God’s will.  How can we do it if we never study Scripture?  Would you want to stand before Christ on Judgment Day and be told you did not do the will of My Father?  Your reply: “I never knew what was required?”  Do you really believe that would be an acceptable answer?  We are told that our minds and attitudes need to be the same as that of Christ Jesus in order to be obedient.  (Phil. 2:5)  There was no doubt Christ was continually praying so that He could carry out Gods requests exactly as needed.

We are told in Philippians 2:6–11 “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

God hates a prideful heart.  Jesus gave up His omnipotence to come as a man to give an example as to how God wants us to live.  Christ humbled himself and was obedient to dieing on the cross.  If we are to please God, we must be careful not to want to be served by others but to be willing to serve.  We need to continually make an assessment to see if we are truly obedient to His will.

I Thessalonians 4:1–8  “As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.  For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.  It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.  For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.  Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.”

Living to please God must be every believer’s priority.  God requires each Christian to turn their lives over to Him.  We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.  We are told to become sanctified and holy.  Sanctified means to separate ourselves from the world and give ourselves obediently to God.  We are told to prepare ourselves for heaven in the way we live.  The Bible teaches us to let the Holy Spirit take our sinful, self-centered nature, our old habits and behaviors and let them be transformed to emulate the life of Christ.

We may think living a Christian life can be done by accepting the do’s and don’ts taught in the Scripture.  Christianity is about a relationship with God and our willingness to please Him.  It seems many Christians find this hard to do.  One of the strengths of my temperament is loyalty.  This is probably the reason I find it easier to live to please God than those with other temperaments.

I do not believe God is pleased when we deliberately sin.    In the Old Testament, people were punished for disobeying God and Paul says we will be in verse 6.  I believe He continues to punish and in most cases it may be deferred until after death now that we live under grace.

The positives are that we find God will bless us in many ways beyond our expectations.  We will have peace, calm and happiness even going through life’s trials.  Our faith and trust in God continues to improve.  Our personal relationship with Him gets better.  The Holy Spirit becomes more powerful in our lives.  We become more positive and gain confidence and know that we have continual guidance and help from God and the Holy Spirit.