My dear readers,

Is Your Life Pleasing in God’s Eyes?

Proverbs 12:2: “A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.”

Life is one of pleasing people. Growing up we wanted to please our parents. In school we want to please our favourite teachers and in college our professors. At work we try to please our managers and all the bosses above us. Some of us please self above everyone else.

Is it wrong to live to please?

God has made man to live to please. God created man in His own image to please Him. Is that not the question asked in the Westminster Confession of Faith? What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever! Isn’t it true that the way to glorify God is to live in a manner that is pleasing to Him?

However, after the fall of man, corruption set in. Sinful man replaced God by pleasing his fellow man including himself. This is idolatry. The one that we live for and seek approval from is the one we seek to please! Is this not idolatry? God must be the only One we seek to please in the absolute sense. At times when we seek to please God, we might be found to be pleasing others too. But pleasing others in this case is the by-product of pleasing God and it does not detract from the primary and singular purpose of pleasing God.

Proverbs 12:2 teaches us that the good man “obtaineth (i.e. will succeed in getting) favour (i.e. good pleasure) of the LORD.” There are no good people on earth outside of believers. God says so. Psalm 14:1-3: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Only believers are good in God’s eyes because of the finished work of Christ in their lives. This allows believers to do good immediately after salvation as Jesus testified in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Other verses that support this truth that only believers can do good in the eyes of God include: 3 John 11: “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.” 1 Peter 3:11: “Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.” Believers are good from within and without. This is the work of God's grace in Christ upon His children when salvation is experienced.

Every child of God has been endowed by Him to live lives pleasing to Him, their heavenly Father. There is not one born-again believer who has not been given this ability to do so. This ability stems from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in us to help us succeed. He illuminates us to understand the Bible so that the believer can live lives according to the Bible. The believer has also been given the mind of Christ to understand God's truth. 1 Corinthians 2:16: “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

If he is weak, the Holy Spirit will strengthen him to make him strong. If he is afraid, the Holy Spirit will give him to courage to obey the Word of God. Joshua 1:7-8: “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:9: “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

God’s desire and decree is for all His children to be more and more like His only begotten Son in thought, mind, heart and life. By living lives pleasing to God, God will be pleased with them and will use their holy witness mightily to save sinners and encourage saints.

But when professing believers live in wickedness, then God will condemn. Proverbs 12:2b is not just referring to living in wickedness but to the wicked ones who plan new ways to do evil and set snares to hurt and destroy. These traps include befriending the gullible and luring them into their web of lies and deceits. They murmur causing others to murmur. They slander and spread half-truths, bringing discord amongst the brethren wherever they go. They serve and attend Bible studies but these are all venues and avenues where traps are set. These are abominable acts in God's sight. They teach false doctrines with sincerity because their darkened minds cannot see the truth and their own errors.

These are wolves in sheep’s clothing and messengers of light after their father the devil. They are found aplenty in these last days of great apostasy within Christendom. No church is spared from their insidious attacks. They creep into churches with their evil agenda of promoting self and falsehood. Through their friendliness and helpfulness, they worm their way into the hearts of men, women and children not sparing the flock. They devour their lives and suck away their strength as they turn the loyalty that believers have to Christ to themselves. They use money power effectively, helping those who are in financial trouble and causing them to feel beholden to their pernicious ways. These targets blindly take the side of these evil despots because of the delusion they live in. Their once enlightened minds seem to have lost the ability to discern the biblical from the unbiblical. These evil men find success as they serve their master, the devil, some knowingly but many unknowingly. Though unknowingly, their evil will still spread like wild fire, burning lives and searing hearts.

All of them will be condemned by the LORD, the omniscient and omnipotent God Most High. The knowledge that these evil men will not escape the God of heaven and earth brings not only comfort and solace but also a deep sense of calmness; despite all the pain and hurt and destruction in the lives that these evil men caused, the righteous justice of the Almighty God will prevail and bring everlasting peace. These evil men and their evil deeds will be no more. One day heaven and earth will be a place of perfect peace, joy and goodness where only the children of God dwell, for they are good in God’s eyes and have found favour with Him forever in eternity. Amen.