The Bible says, “Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.” 1 Fortunately, the Bible gives us a clear example of a life that gives pleasure to God. The man’s name was Noah.
Everyone lived for their own pleasure, not God’s.
God couldn’t find anyone on earth interested in pleasing him, so he was grieved and regretted making man.
God became so disgusted with the human race that he considered wiping it out.
But there was one man who made God smile. The Bible says, “Noah was a pleasure to the Lord.” 2 God said, “This guy brings me pleasure. He makes me smile. I’ll start over with his family.” Because Noah brought pleasure to God, you and I are alive today.
From his life we learn the five acts
of worship that make God smile.
God smiles when we love him supremely.
Noah loved God
more than anything else in the world, even when no one else did!
The Bible tells us that for his entire life, “Noah consistently
followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him.” 3
This is what God wants most from you: a relationship! It’s the
most astounding truth in the universe—that our Creator wants to
fellowship with us.
God made you to love you, and he longs for
you to love him back. He says, “I don’t want your sacrifices—I want
your love; I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me.” 4
Can you sense God’s passion for you in this verse? God deeply
loves you and desires your love in return. He longs for you to
know him and spend time with him. This is why learning to love
God and be loved by him should be the greatest objective of your
life. Nothing else comes close in importance. Jesus called it the
greatest commandment. He said, “Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the
first and greatest commandment.” 5
God smiles when we trust him completely. The second
reason Noah pleased God was that he trusted God, even when it
didn’t make sense. The Bible says, “By faith, Noah built a ship in
the middle of dry land. He was
warned about something he couldn’t
see, and acted on what he was
told. . . . As a result, Noah became
intimate with God.” 6
Imagine this scene: One day God
comes to Noah and says, “I’m
disappointed in human beings.
In the entire world, no one but
you thinks about me. But Noah, when I look at you, I start
smiling. I’m pleased with your life, so I’m going to flood the
world and start over with your family. I want you to build a giant
ship that will save you and the animals.”
There were three problems that could have caused Noah to
doubt. First, Noah had never seen rain, because prior to the
Flood, God irrigated the earth from the ground up.7 Second,
Noah lived hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. Even if he
could learn to build a ship, how would he get it to water? Third,
there was the problem of rounding up all the animals
and then caring for them.
But Noah didn’t
complain or make excuses.
He trusted God
completely, and that made God smile.
Trusting God completely means having faith
that he knows what is best for your life.
You
expect him to keep his promises, help you with
problems, and do the impossible when necessary.
The Bible says, “He takes pleasure in those that honor Him; in those
who trust in His constant love.”
It took Noah 120 years to build the ark. I imagine he faced
many discouraging days.
With no sign of rain year after year, he
was ruthlessly criticized as a “crazy man who thinks God speaks to
him.” I imagine Noah’s children were often embarrassed by the
giant ship being built in their front yard.
Yet Noah kept on
trusting God.
In what areas of your life do you need to trust God completely?
Trusting is an act of worship. Just as parents are pleased when
children trust their love and wisdom, your faith makes God
happy. The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please
God.” 9
God smiles when we obey him wholeheartedly.
Saving the
animal population from a worldwide flood required great attention
to logistics and details. Everything had to be done just as God
prescribed it. God didn’t say, “Build any old boat you’d like,
Noah.” He gave very detailed instructions as to the size, shape,
and materials of the ark as well as the different numbers of animals
to be brought on board.
The Bible tells us Noah’s response: “So
Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.” 10
Notice that Noah obeyed completely (no instruction was
overlooked), and he obeyed exactly (in the way and time God
wanted it done).
That is wholeheartedness. It is no wonder God
smiled on Noah.
If God asked you to build a giant boat, don’t you think you
might have a few questions, objections, or reservations?
Noah
didn’t. He obeyed God wholeheartedly. That means doing
whatever God asks without reservation or hesitation.
You don’t
procrastinate and say, “I’ll pray about it.” You do it without delay.
Every parent knows that delayed obedience is really disobedience.
God doesn’t owe you an explanation or reason for everything
he asks you to do.
Understanding can wait, but obedience can’t.
Instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime
of Bible discussions.
In fact, you will never understand some
commands until you obey them first.
Obedience unlocks
understanding.
Often we try to offer God partial obedience. We want to pick
and choose the commands we obey. We make a list of the
commands we like and obey those while ignoring the ones we
think are unreasonable, difficult, expensive, or unpopular.
I’ll
attend church but I won’t tithe. I’ll
read my Bible but won’t forgive the
person who hurt me.
Yet partial
obedience is disobedience.
Wholehearted obedience is done
joyfully, with enthusiasm.
The Bible
says, “Obey him gladly.” 11 This is
the attitude of David: “Just tell me
what to do and I will do it, Lord. As long as I live I’ll wholeheartedly
obey.” 12
James, speaking to Christians, said, “We please God by what we
do and not only by what we believe.” 13 God’s Word is clear that you
can’t earn your salvation. It comes only by grace, not your effort.
But as a child of God you can bring pleasure to your heavenly Father through obedience. Any act of obedience is also an act of
worship.
Why is obedience so pleasing to God?
Because it proves
you really love him.
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey my
commandments.” 14
God smiles when we praise and thank him continually. Few
things feel better than receiving heartfelt praise and appreciation
from someone else. God loves it, too. He smiles when we express
our adoration and gratitude to him.
Noah’s life brought pleasure to God because he lived with a
heart of praise and thanksgiving. Noah’s first act after surviving
the Flood was to express his thanks to God by offering a sacrifice.
The Bible says, “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord . . . and
sacrificed burnt offerings on it.” 15
Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we don’t offer animal sacrifices as
Noah did. Instead we are told to offer God “the sacrifice of
praise” 16 and “the sacrifice of thanksgiving.” 17
We praise God for
who he is, and we thank God for what he has done.
David said, “I
will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord.” 18
An amazing thing happens when we offer praise and
thanksgiving to God.
When we give God enjoyment, our own
hearts are filled with joy!
Worship works both ways, too. We enjoy what God has done
for us, and when we express that enjoyment to God, it brings him joy—but it also increases our joy.
The book of Psalms says, “The
righteous are glad and rejoice in his presence; they are happy and
shout for joy.” 19
God smiles when we use our abilities. After the Flood, God
gave Noah these simple instructions: ‘‘Be fruitful and increase in
number and fill the earth. . . . Everything that lives and moves will
be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you
everything.” 20
God said, “It’s time to get on with your life! Do the things I
designed humans to do.
Make love to your spouse. Have babies.
Raise families. Plant crops and eat meals. Be humans!
This is what
I made you to be!”
You may feel that the only time God is pleased with you is
when you’re doing “spiritual” activities—like reading the Bible,
attending church, praying, or
sharing your faith. And you may
think God is unconcerned about
the other parts of your life.
Actually,
God enjoys watching every detail of
your life, whether you are working,
playing, resting, or eating. He
doesn’t miss a single move you make.
The Bible tells us, “The steps
of the godly are directed by the Lord.
He delights in every detail of
their lives.” 21
Every human activity, except sin, can be done for God’s
pleasure if you do it with an attitude of praise. You can wash
dishes, repair a machine, sell a product, write a computer
program, grow a crop, and raise a family for the glory of God.
Like a proud parent, God especially enjoys watching you use
the talents and abilities he has given you. God intentionally
gifted us differently for his enjoyment. He has made some to be
athletic and some to be analytical. You may be gifted at
mechanics or mathematics or music or a thousand other skills.
All these abilities can bring a smile to God’s face.
The Bible says, “He has shaped each person in turn; now he watches
everything we do.” 22
You don’t bring glory or pleasure to God by hiding your
abilities or by trying to be someone else.
You only bring him
enjoyment by being you. Anytime you reject any part of
yourself, you are rejecting God’s wisdom and
sovereignty in creating you.
God says, “You have no
right to argue with your Creator. You are merely a clay pot
shaped by a potter. The clay doesn’t ask, ‘Why did you make
me this way?’” 23
In the film Chariots of Fire, Olympic runner Eric
Liddell says, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but
he also made me fast, and when I run, I feel God’s pleasure.”
Later he says, “To give up running would be to hold him in
contempt.” There are no unspiritual abilities, just misused ones.
Start using yours for God’s pleasure.
God also gains pleasure in watching you enjoy his creation.
He
gave you eyes to enjoy beauty, ears to enjoy sounds, your nose
and taste buds to enjoy smells and tastes, and the nerves under
your skin to enjoy touch. Every act of enjoyment becomes an act
of worship when you thank God for it. In fact, the Bible says,
“God . . . generously gives us everything for our enjoyment.” 24
God even enjoys watching you sleep!
When you are sleeping, God
gazes at you with love, because you were his idea. He loves you as
if you were the only person on earth. Parents do not require their children to be perfect, or even
mature, in order to enjoy them. They enjoy them at every stage of
development.
In the same way, God doesn’t wait for you to reach
maturity before he starts liking you.
He loves and enjoys you at
every stage of your spiritual development.
You may have had unpleasable teachers or parents as you were
growing up.
Please don’t assume God feels that way about you.
He knows you are incapable of being perfect or sinless.
The Bible
says, “He certainly knows what we are made of. He bears in mind
that we are dust.” 25
What God looks at is the attitude of your heart: Is pleasing him
your deepest desire?
This was Paul’s life goal: “More than anything
else, however, we want to please him, whether in our home here or
there.” 26
When you live in light of eternity, your focus changes
from “How much pleasure am I getting out of life?” to “How
much pleasure is God getting out of my life?”
God is looking for people like Noah in these elections —
people willing to live for
the pleasure of God.
The Bible says,
“The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are
any who are wise, who want to please God.” 27
Will you make pleasing God the goal of your life?
There is
nothing that God won’t do for the person
totally absorbed with
this goal.
Verse to Remember: “The Lord is pleased with those who
ReplyDeleteworship him and trust his love.” Psalm 147:11 (CEV)