Sometimes it is hard to figure out whom to please! I remember songs about the subject. A secular song in the seventies said, “You can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself.” An early Christian contemporary rock song later said, “I don’t want to be a man-pleaser. I want to be a God-pleaser.” Are you a people-pleaser? Many of us just want others to be happy with us. Bearing the weight of the world, we do not want to disappoint anybody. Still others live for an audience of themselves. If they please anyone, it will be for their own benefit.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul prayed for the believers there to be filled with knowledge from God so that they might live a life pleasing to God. If we wanted to please God what would that look like? Paul lists four actions that are pleasing to God: first, God-pleasers bear fruit in every good work. Second, we grow in the knowledge of God. Third, we find strength in God’s glorious power. Finally, we give thanks that God has included us in the Kingdom of Light.
We can never please everyone, but we want to please God in all we do. Let’s work on these four things: doing good, learning more about God, becoming stronger with great endurance and patience, and giving thanks for inclusion. Our Audience of One is none other than God himself. If we please, please, let’s please him.
