* A Lifestyle Pleasing to God

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, 

he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, 

and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

John 14:21  

The love of God toward man is awesome to consider. We speak of it often and we thank, praise and worship God for His love. We love to revel in His many benefits and we are "wowed" because He loves us just as we are, despite ourselves. God loves us more than we love ourselves. We love God for His unmerited love towards us; because He first loved us.

We love him, because he first loved us.  1 John 4:19

The difference, though, in His love towards us and our love towards Him is our actions. Love is an action word and even though God looks at the heart or the intent of our actions, there is still a lifestyle that must be maintained in order for God to name us heirs to His kingdom. At some point, one must come to the conclusion that if we love God the way we say we do, it becomes easy to do what He tells us.

If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15

Our love for God should easily triumph our desire to sin or go against the will of God. Just like any other relationship, in order for it to flourish, it has to be built on love, trust and a mutual respect for each other.  We are instructed to fear [reverence] our God.

Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.  

Deuteronomy 6:13

For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. Psalms 96:4

Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.  1 Peter 2:7

To be pleasing in God’s sight is to obey His will. We honor Him through our submissive obedience to Him. Our ‘good works’ are meaningless without obedience.  Apostle Paul, in his exhortation to the church in Ephesus, said that certain things should not be named among us:

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;  Ephesians 5:3 

When we love God, He becomes first in our life. 

 All of our thoughts and actions are centered on God and 

what we do to bring honor to Him so that He is glorified. 

 Apostle Paul tells of those things that we should put aside (works of the flesh) 

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:  Galatians 5:17-21

Ridding ourselves of the works of the flesh allows room for the fruit of the spirit to flourish within us.   

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23 

These are the characteristics of God that we should adopt and portray. These characteristics, the fruit of the spirit, are easily applied with the subjection of our self-nature and the help of the Holy Spirit residing within us.  God tells us in His word that: 

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world    1 John 4:4

Jude describes Him this way, 

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:24-25)

Worship Him, Praise Him, Honor Him, but, above all, demonstrate your love for Him through your thoughts, actions and deeds as they align with the word of God!




(Encouragement)

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