Pastor Creflo Dollar: The Importance of Pleasing God

by: Creflo Dollar

As Believers, our goal in life should be to please God. There are many people who believe that God is pleased with their lives simply because they are born again. There is, however, a difference between God being pleased with you because you are His child and Him being pleased with you because of your behavior. We want to please God in every aspect of our lives, meaning not only do we want to be pleasing to Him because we accepted Jesus, but we want our conduct and character to please Him as well. The way we live our lives on this earth determines the rewards we will get in heaven. For this reason, we should be diligent about cultivating a lifestyle that truly pleases God.

God holds us to a higher standard of living because He has given us the grace, or supernatural ability, to carry it out. Grace was never designed to be a cover-up for sin, but rather a means of overcoming sin in all its forms. This grace is always marked by God’s enabling work within us to help us overcome our shortcomings. Because we have grace, we can please God through our behavior. We are no longer under the dominion of sin and do not have to give in to temptation when it shows up.

There is nothing we can do to make God love us more or less. John 17:23 says, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” Jesus said that the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus! And yet, it is possible to displease God through our behavior and lifestyle. God’s pleasure with us is not unconditional, like His love is. We must make a decision to please God through our obedience to His Word, out of reverence and honor for Him. Our love for Him and appreciation for all He has done for us should move us to align our lives with His Word. When we do, we please Him.

Making a quality decision to please God has so many benefits. Besides the fact that pleasing God through our obedience to His Word positions us to receive the benefits of the blessing on this earth, it also ensures that we receive rewards when we get to heaven. We all will have to go before the Lord one day and give an account of the things we did in our bodies, while on the earth (2 Corinthians 5:10). For this reason, we must make sure that we build our lives upon the foundation of God’s Word and not the fashions of this world.

First Corinthians 3:12-15 says, “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

The works that we do while we are alive will be brought before the judgment seat of Christ one day, and everything we did that had lasting, eternal value will cause us to reap eternal rewards in heaven. Likewise, the things that had no eternal value will not make it through the fire of God’s judgment. Many people will lose their eternal rewards because the things they did on the earth, while successful in the world’s eyes, did not please God.

What do you allow to define you—the Word of God, or the norms and values of this world? Are you more concerned with being celebrated in the world’s eyes rather than developing love, faith, and godly character? Are your motives coming from a place of wanting to please God or please yourself? These are questions all of us must ask ourselves as we examine our lives and the plans, purposes, and pursuits we have in life.

It is God’s will for every Christian to obtain the full spectrum of rewards He has for them, both on earth and in heaven. What we do with the Cross determines where we spend eternity, but how we live our lives determines how we spend eternity. The only way to live a life that is pleasing to God is through His grace, which enables us to live according to His Word. When we discover and fulfill His will for our lives, rather than pursue our own will, we please Him and set ourselves up to receive eternal rewards that will last forever.

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