In the Bible in the book of Hebrews we are told that it is only by faith that we are able to please God. For many of us the main focus on this scripture is the word “please” as naturally who doesn’t want to please God if there is a chance to? Yet if we dare to take a closer look at this passage I believe we will find that a very different message is being communicated to the one many of us subscribe to.
You see if this “pleasing” was for the benefit of God then we would be right to focus on the operative side of this word. However, like with all of scripture I believe that the author of the book of Hebrews was actually attempting to help us see the way that one can sense and feel that they are indeed pleasing God.
Please allow me to explain my train of thought.
You see when we try and please God through our performance and what we do or don’t do or how well we do it then it gives us control as we are able to measure our “pleasing” according to the quality and success of our actions.
When we live from our heart we invite mystery (faith) into our journey which leads us to loosen our grip over the quality and outcome of our performance so we can instead focus on our relationship with God. This means that we no longer have a measuring stick nor a standard to reach in order to please God. We instead begin to understand that He is already pleased with us but not because we have done something to make it this way, but instead because we have come into a space where we experience the acceptance and affirmation that comes naturally when we know that we are loved unconditionally. This is why it takes great faith to believe this as we have not had a say nor an action to cause him to be pleased with us in the first place.
Remember – God loves us and is pleased with us unconditionally. Yes these are wonderful words and for many of us too good to be true – that is why it takes faith to be able to believe and experience them, and as we do we will then be able to see that it is when we truly understand this that God is then really pleased for and with us.
Have a pleasing week!
-pablo-
Photo by Nisi
