Doing What Is Pleasing to God

 

Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” As he was saying these things, many believed in him.


If we want to be like Jesus, we need to take heed of what he says here because it contains the vital ingredient necessary: obedience to the will of the Father. “I do nothing on my own,” Jesus says, “but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.” How did Jesus receive these instructions? Through prayer. Although fully divine, when he walked upon this earth he also walked upon it fully human, and consequently had to seek direction from God in prayer just as we need to do.


However, very few of us actually seek God’s will in prayer. Mostly it is trying to get him to do our will; validate the choices we have already made. Think about this for a moment. And then think about the last prayer you made to him about something. Was it to seek his counsel for a decision that you were planning on making? Or was it to seek his blessings for a decision that you had already made without seeking his counsel?


We take up jobs, get into relationships, start projects, form partnerships, purchase assets, and make all sorts of decisions without asking him. Then when things don’t work out, we go running to him asking why we are struggling so much. The reason is simple. When we decide things unilaterally, we have to take responsibility for the consequences. But you might say, how do we consult with him? And how can we discern his will? 


By offering ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. And by the renewing of our minds, reprogramming them from the things of the world to the things of heaven. (See Romans 12:1-2). We cannot have our feet in two boats. We cannot be with God and the devil at the same time. “No one can serve two masters,” Jesus said. “Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24). He also said “that friendship with the world means enmity against God” (James 4:4).


I know that God can feel distant sometimes, but that is not because he has gone away; it is because we have. Listen to what Jesus says today: “the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” Let us do what is pleasing to God. Jesus said that if we loved God we would keep his commands, and to assist us in doing this, he would give us the Holy Spirit (see John 14:15,16,26).


And we will not feel alone.

 


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