Tried living a God-pleasing life? Are you failing the more you try? Have you given up on the possibility of pleasing God?
I can relate with you when it comes to the whole idea of pleasing God and failing every time you try. The feeling of not being able to please the Creator and knowing that it is the basic requirement of a child of God sucks. It just torments us and in ways always keeps us in guilt that never allows us to live in freedom. I have been there and know that it is quite a struggle to live the way God wants us to. I would have given up on this idea but one passage from the word of God changed my perspective and is the reason behind this blog.
Why do we fail every time trying to please God with our life? This is the question we need to answer first. I’ve given quite some thought and see that we humans cannot please God on our own because it is the law that defines what pleases God and doesn’t. And frankly, all throughout history, nobody has ever been able to keep up the law to the full extent. Therefore, nobody has been able to please God on their own. But that doesn’t mean we cannot please God at all. This leaves us with the possibility of pleasing God highly plausible yet leaving the ‘how?’ unanswered.
Romans 8 – the highly quoted and regarded passage from the word of God. A very interesting passage packed with spiritual truths that can set us free and might as well answer the question of how to live a life pleasing to God and not fail trying?’
So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God Romans 8:8
Paul, the apostle of God has arrived at the same conclusion as we did- those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But why though? Why can’t we please God in the flesh? I think it’s more like a branch in a tree. Can the branch bear fruit unless it is connected to the main bark of the tree? The branch is still a branch of the tree if it is plucked from the tree and kept away. Although it is the purpose of the branch, the branch cannot bear fruit on its own. Think of not being able to please God in the flesh as a branch trying to bear fruit away from the tree on its own. It’s literally impossible for such a thing to happen. But unfortunately, we are trying to do that which is not possible, even for God! John captures a similar conversation that Jesus had with His disciples before climbing the cross in John 15.
“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 15:5
This is why Paul articulates in the roman church that the natural mind of man cannot abide by the laws of God and please God.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Roman 8:6-7
So how do we please God without being subject to the law of God? Fortunately, Jesus did a lot more than just forgive us of our sins on the cross. He made way for all mankind to please God through the spirit instead of the carnal mind. It might seem to flummox us when it comes to the spirit. But the truth isn’t so confounded, but quite simple as expounded by Paul in the first few verses of Romans 8.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4
Our ancestors couldn’t uphold the law because it relied on the mind of man to abide by the standards set by God. This is proof that Godly standards can never be satisfied by the mere mind of humans. It requires something man can never give. Knowing this, God by His unfathomable mercy and grace sent His only Son to make way for us to please God. Jesus said in John 15 that it is better for Him to go that the comforter may come. Jesus paved the way for the spirit of God to inhabit the earth and come to dwell in the hearts of everyone who believes in Jesus.
“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” John 15:26
Jesus says that the spirit of God will testify of Jesus. That means that the work of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus known to you so that you may become like Him more and more to the extent where Christ in us is the hope of glory. This is the law of the Spirit of life that Paul mentions in Romans 8. When the Holy Spirit comes in us, He is the law. This means He is the one telling us what is wrong and what is not, confirmed by the adjective Jesus uses to describe the Holy Spirit-Spirit of Truth.
But Jesus did not leave us hanging in the question of what the voice of the Holy Spirit is, rather gave us a book called the Bible which is the word of God. That word of God has the 2 great commandments Jesus laid for us instead of the hundreds that needed to be followed before that.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind
You shall love your neighbour as yourself
These 2 laws are not specific but rather very general that can be contextualized only with the help of the Holy Spirit. This makes the Holy Spirit the law of the Spirit of life as in Romans 8.
Jesus’s disciple John might give us more insight into what this means as he starts his book, ‘book of John’, with the well-known scripture:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. John 1:1
So, the word of God is God! When Paul says There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, he means the ones who walk according to the spirit are those who are rooted in the word of God. How do I make this connection? Simple:
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Romans 8:5
What are the things of the Spirit? They are the words of God. When our mind is set on the words of God, we are transformed to be more like Jesus as the word of God is God in the most relatable form. the word of God is power in us to do the impossible-please God. what was impossible on our own can be done through the Spirit.
I can’t stress more on the truth that we need to set our minds on the things of the spirit. Our mind is naturally set on the things of the world. Our mind is part of the body that is born of sin and death. But when we believe in Jesus, we are set free from sin and death; but don’t attain the fulness of that truth. The fulness is achieved only when we force ourselves and push ourselves as much as possible to set our minds on the things of the spirit – the Words of God. When we do so, we are free from the law of sin and death and come under the law of the spirit of life. It is called law yet being the most liberal way of life.
Jesus says:
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33
So, what are you waiting for? Go seek the word of God as much as possible and you will be able to please God you were so desperately trying and failing to please. You can’t please God without Him. You need God and His word to live the God-pleasing life, cause WORD IS POWER!