Weekly Devotional 7-21-25 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 it is God who stirs the heart toward those things? We are only His instruments. The apostle Paul affirmed that truth in his letter to the Ephesians. He wrote: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them”(Ephesians 2:10).
Christian are new creations in Christ indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, and we are to place ourselves under His authority if we are to be pleasing to Him. It is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit and yielding ourselves to Him is not easy, but it is necessary and when we do we reflect His goodness not any perceived goodness of our own.
The works of the Christian should reflect back to God, not to oneself. That was the way it was when Moses came down from the mountain after he had encountered God. Consider Exodus 34:29-30 > “29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.”
Our encounter with God should do the same, not cause people to be afraid of us but cause them to recognize that because his Spirit dwells in us the works that they see us do is not of ourselves but of Him.
stevelampman.com / Transforming Power; the Work of God on Behalf of