Becoming a Son That Pleases the FatherSample

GRADUATE FROM ACCEPTANCE TO APPROVAL (2)

Jesus had such an acute awareness of His purpose and what He came to do on earth, that He told his mother that He must be about His Father’s business at the age of twelve. Some people don’t come into that awareness until they are in their sixties or seventies. Some women are married to men that have not come to an awareness of their responsibilities as husbands. The parents of an irresponsible child will not be pleased with him even though they love him. This shows that it is possible to love someone and not be pleased with that person. Even though the parents of a child in the hospital or prison love the child, they are not pleased with the condition the child is in.

God wants us to understand that He will never stop loving us, but being pleased with us is directly dependent on our activities, not His. God’s love for us is a function of His emotions towards us and He has determined to love us (Jer. 31:3). There is nothing you can do to stop God from loving you, but your actions will determine whether He will be pleased with you or not. When you get involved with activities that please the Father, you will realise that there is more to God and our walk with Him than just expecting blessings from Him.

Your prayer as a Christian should be that God should do for you, what He does for people that please Him. God loves the world but the way He loves the world is different from the way He loves you as His son. However, those that please Him come into a different dimension of experience. One of the things that my wife did for our children when they were much younger was to tell them what pleased me. Every time they came to me and said certain things, I knew she had already spoken to them because they said what I wanted to hear. Likewise, you may pray for some things that do not please the Father and He will still love you.

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, help me to live in a way that will please the Father always so that He can do for me what He does for people who please Him, in Jesus’ name. Amen!