When we love someone, naturally, we want to please them. Not because we expect to get anything in return but because we want to make them happy and proud of us. The same goes for God. We should want to please Him because we love Him; we want to make Him happy and be proud of us. But what pleases God?
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6
The Amplified puts it this way:
But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him.
So there you have it: our faith pleases God. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Impossible means not happening—ever. There is no room for interpretation here. We must have faith in God to please Him. For more on what faith is and isn’t, check out Faith: What Is It Really?
The Book of Hebrews is filled with stories of people whose faith pleased God. Enoch was a person who pleased God (Hebrews 11:5) because he walked faithfully with Him for 300 years. (Genesis 5:22,24) Enoch and God shared close fellowship because Enoch drew near to God, believed that God existed, and sought after Him. Today, thousands of years later, this formula has not changed; if we want to walk with God and please Him, we must do the following:
1. Draw Near to God
The Bible is full of references to drawing near to God. Let’s look at a few.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8
To please God, we must draw near to Him. James also tells us we need to be right with God to be close to Him. Some people stop there, believing that they just aren’t worthy enough to be near God. They don’t completely understand that they were cleansed and purified the day they said “I do” to Jesus. The author of Hebrews explains this well:
Let us draw near to God with a pure heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22
Faith tells us that we can draw near to God because we are made “holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.” Ephesians 5:26 When we don’t have the full assurance of our salvation that faith brings, our guilty consciences will erect a wall between us and the Father, and we won’t draw near to Him. Our feelings of guilt keep us from coming close to Him. If we don’t draw near to Him, He won’t draw near to us.
Hebrews 11 also tells us to draw near to God, we must believe that He exists.
2. Believe God Exists
God gives everyone on this planet an opportunity to know that He exists – that He is the Great I AM. No one is without excuse. Some, however, choose not to believe.
They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” Romans 1:19-20
Believing is required, but it is not enough.
Even the devil believes in God. James 2:19
To please God, we must do more than just believe in His existence; we must seek Him out.
3. Seek God
We are told that if we seek God, we will find Him if we seek him with all of our hearts (Jeremiah 29:13). This seeking isn’t just any kind of seeking; it is seeking Him with all that we are.
Lip service is not enough. We can say we love God, honor Him, and follow all the “rules”, but if our hearts are far from God, we are not genuinely seeking Him; we are just acting like hypocrites.
Isaiah, the Prophet, heard this from God: “Therefore, the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.” Isaiah 29:13
When we seek God, we do so not because we don’t know where He is but because we want what He offers us more than anything else on the planet. We must believe that He rewards those who seek Him.
4. Expect A Reward
Abraham, the father of faith, “was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.” The heroes of faith “were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland…” and that is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:16
We, too, should be looking forward to that heavenly homeland. We should set our minds on the things of heaven, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2). When we focus on God and His Kingdom and His purpose for us here on earth, we are better able to honor God with our lives and serve Him with His Kingdom’s purposes in mind. This better place, this city with eternal foundations designed and built by God, is all the reward I need.
Conclusion
I want to please God more than anything. I do. Like Enoch, I want to be known as a person who pleased God and who walked faithfully with Him during my time on earth. I want to draw near to God in the full assurance that my faith brings – knowing that when I seek Him, I will find Him, and I will be rewarded by living in a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
Thank you, Father, for your Word, which encourages me through the stories of the faith of men and women moved by your Spirit, which is recorded in the Great Book. Thank you that you made a way for me to draw near to you, and please you, that when I seek you with all that I am that I can be certain that I will find you and that my reward will be great. God, you are my great reward. In the name of Jesus’ Amen.
