Weekly Devotional 4-1-24 God is Pleased with What?
When asking people what is it that pleases God many different answers are proffered. Some answer that trying to live a godly life is that which pleases Him; some say that helping the poor and unlearned is that which pleases Him; while others answer that trying to bring peace to the world is that which pleases Him. They, of course, are all partly correct; all these things please God because God is the originator of all that is good. However, when these things are done in the flesh, no matter how well intended, they have an element of self-elevation in them which robs God of His glory.
God is pleased when we understand and acknowledge that in ourselves, that is, in our flesh no good thing dwells. The natural man, of course, cannot come to that understanding because he is dead toward God. Jesus said that for a man to see (to know-to understand) the kingdom of God he must be born again (John 3:3). He also said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4). God is well pleased when we, with sincerity, sing out, “to God be the glory, great things He has done.” It is only God who deserves praise. Good things are done by many, but who softens the heart toward those things? Is it not God?
It pleases God when one comes to understand that no matter the good that he does he falls short of God’s glory. This means that whatever the extent of his good works may be, he still cannot be in the presence of Holy God. That is only possible when one has put on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the perfect man, who is equal with God. His righteousness is what God sees when He looks upon those who have turned to Him for that righteous standing. Paul wrote that we are to “put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Created according to God is not a self-creation, but a creation by Him. Earlier in his letter to the Ephesians (and to us) Paul wrote, “1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10).
And so we come to it, “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” It was God’s pleasure to bring us out of spiritual darkness into Spiritual life (light) and it pleases Him when we walk in and according to that light. As quoted above, Jesus said, “Without Him we can do nothing.”
Transforming Power; the Work of God on Behalf of Man