Pleasing God

I grew up believing that what God wanted from me was church attendance as a high priority.  Every time the doors were opened, I believed He expected me to be there.  I believed I was to set aside money to put in the collection plate, again as a priority (not that I did but my Mom made sure there was something to offer, regardless).  I believed that you had to partake of the Lord's Supper while keeping your mind focused on Christ not what you would do after church.  I believed that one shouldn't drink, smoke or chew, nor date girls that do (apart from not dating girls that chewed tobacco, I didn't do well there either, but I believed it).

Different Christian denominations and sects have always had a list of things that one must do and those things that were to be avoided.  Some have to do with the day of worship, some with the style of worship, some rules are dietary, some have to do with the amount of money dedicated to the offering, some have to do with how one dresses, length of hair, facial hair, wearing jewelry, you name it and someone has a rule about it.  It seemed that nearly everything has an level of importance to someone.  So many demands placed on us by the church in the name of God, but what is God really concerned about?  Is he really concerned about tobacco chewing and square dancing and hair style?

Wouldn't it be great if God would have just told us what is important to him, what he requires of us so that we could please him?  Actually, he has: "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly a with your God" (Micah 6:8).  Being godly is not about following rules, it is about following Jesus - adopting his mindset, which will produce a very particular lifestyle.  It is not enough to desire justice in your life, we need to extend justice to others in how we treat them.  It is not enough to want God to be merciful to us we must extend mercy to other - even though they do not deserve it.  It is not enough to be right, which can produce pride, we must be righteous, which is based on God's gift and promotes humility.

All the things required by God, those things that really please him are not simply acts that we perform or accomplish, what pleases him is attitudinal - that which results from a condition of the heart.  Listen to what the apostle Paul informs us in Romans 13:9-10, "The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not covet ,' and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 'Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.?

Is it really all that surprising that God "who is love" would be pleased if we would just love one another?  As a parent, are you really pleased when your kids obey the rule not to fight each other or when they actually treat each other lovingly?  Do you want compliance or committment from your children?  Is it the things they do on the outside or the thing that is going on inside that pleases you most?  Isn't it a matter of the heart that pleases you and God?  Jus' Ask'n.