What does it take to please God? How can a person please God when he or she leads a normal life, with an average job, or going to an ordinary school, with typical family and friends, having a normal busy schedule, living in an average location, attending a mediocre church? How is it possible to live for God like this?
Think about this for a minute – God said about Jesus, “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The shocker about this statement was that it was done at Jesus’ baptism – before He performed any miracles or entered into His ministry! (Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11)
God said this about Jesus while Jesus was just an ordinary carpenter from Nazareth.
So how can an ordinary man with an average occupation please God as Jesus did? While we know so little about Jesus’ life before he was thirty, we know how He lived because He always practiced what He preached. Think about what Jesus talked about and how He urged others to live, and ask yourself if you are living that type of life.
How do you handle your eyes and your tongue? How do you treat other people? How do you treat your co-workers when you’re impatient? How do you handle stress – do you lash out or do you give it to the Lord? Do you have an angry spirit? What is your attitude toward money? Are you generous with it? What do you think about? Do you praise God often or do you only complain to Him in your prayers? How well do you know God? Do you seek Him diligently? What is your fellowship with Him like?
These are the types of things God looks at – not miracles, ministries, or even tithing! God doesn’t praise the same things that man praises, because His ways are not our ways. He looks at things like righteousness (treating other people right), holiness (purity), Faith (dependence on Him), humility, and a diligence in seeking Him.
Hosea
6:6 For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Hebrews
11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. 13:16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Our Father in Heaven is a righteous judge. The vast majority of us He does not call to be missionaries, but to lead normal lives. The difference between a normal Christian life and a normal worldly life is not a difference in occupation or location, but a difference in holiness, righteousness, and a hunger for the living God. So you live an ordinary life… that’s ok! But what are you living for?