Good morning,
It is impossible to please God . .
Recently I was walking by two guys who were talking to one another about God, the younger man obviously trying to defend himself, admitted that he had been making some bad decisions. But then he went on to tell his friend that God would understand that he was human and that when he got to heaven God would forgive the bad stuff because Jesus was a lover. He knew enough about the Bible and that sin was bad stuff, but he was also sure that pleasing God was impossible in the real world. The older guy just rolled his eyes, and the younger man walked away looking pleased that he had made a good point. Sadly, his approach to knowing and pleasing God is very much a part of a large percent of the people who attend our church services or claim to be Christians because they have faith in God. He had a kind of faith in God, and believed that God existed, and figured that God would reward him, without understanding the rest of the verse. Our Enemy had fooled this young man into thinking that his definition of God was enough to get him into heaven. Our Enemy is a master at turning our world into people who are living by faith, but not a faith that comes from God.
A religious young man named Saul, who once thought he knew who God was and how to get to heaven, was taking a different road, but was just a wrong as our young friend. Saul thought that he would get to heaven by doing everything right so that God would have to let him in. Both of these young men were wrong because they didn’t really know who Jesus is. One day Jesus stopped Saul, later known as Paul, on a dusty road, calling down to him from heaven, and told him that what he was doing was all wrong. He was fighting the God and Savior who loved him and was hurting those who were following him. From that time in his life here on earth until he finally died a willing death, he lived his life for his Savior and Lord determined to get to know him better and better. He also was determined to abandon all the worthless things that had guided his life. He not only knew his Bible, he knew his Lord. He put his focus this way, Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.(Phil.3:8) The center of his heart and life were fixed now on knowing and obeying his loving Savior. He went on to say, I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.(vs.9) He learned that when he lived by faith in God, not in any one or anything else, he would be pleasing God in time and for all eternity. Dear Lord, please help us to know you like that ourselves, so that someday soon will we see your joyful face welcoming us home.
Hebrews 11:6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Roy Wisner
