Heb 11:6 (KJV) - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Do we really want
to please God?
Do
we really want to please God? I find
that perhaps, we genuinely desire and will go about pleasing another only when
we are truly loving the other.
There
are of course, many motivations that can be cited for us to please another;
where at the base of them, is the question of “what is in it, for me?” I speak from first-hand knowledge that when
this (“what is in it, for me?”) is frequently posed in a family setting,
trouble maybe coming, divorce etc. may even be, in the works. Why?
Because the true love component is ceasing.
You need to be
loving God
When
the other party is God, I believe it is also similar; i.e. you will only in a
mode of wanting continually, to please God, when you are loving God.
The
posture that we should be having, should NOT be, “I will please God because I
want this or that!” When it is so, when
you don’t have this or that which you need God to give it to you, you don’t
please Him, or He becomes furthest from your heart and mind.
It
is NOT so, when we are loving certain individuals, like our spouse or children;
for them, don’t you always think of them (they will come into your mind) when
something to be decided will impact/affect them. You will have their interest and welfare at
heart all the time. You will think about
whether they will lack something, for example, when you are considering to be
away for a time.
In love, you will
heed
When
we love another, we would like to please that someone, generally speaking. And we will give heed to what will please
that someone.
Very
simple, if that someone does NOT like durian, don’t buy him/her durian; if
he/she likes custard apple, then get him/her custard apple. So, it is with
God. If we love God, we should like to
please Him, and we should give heed to what will please Him, God.
God said faith is
needed
And
so, if God has said, and He has said, without faith it is impossible to please
Him, then we should develop our faith and move in faith, and NOT neglect the
development of our faith and go about things without faith.
Posture of faith –
2 angles
What
does it mean to be with a posture of faith?
One can look at it from various angles.
Two angles I will touch on, here.
Angle no. 1 - Fear
NOT, but are you walking after & with God
One,
faith is like you fear NOT when you get up an SIA plane and fly to, say,
USA. You don’t worry if the pilot is fit
to fly or NOT, or if the plane is air-worthy or NOT, or that some terrorists are
on the plane, and the plane may be forced to plunge into the Empire State
building.
God
is much, much and much better than SIA.
If you don’t worry with SIA, how more you should NOT worry with
travelling with God (or walking or moving with God)! SIA may get you to where you want to go, in
time and comfortably too; “that is your reward for your “faith” in SIA”. God NOT only get you to a place, and in more
than in 1-piece, so to speak, He will get you to where He knows best for you,
and you will be with peace and joy, NOT only when you reach the destination but
along the way. Will you have faith in
God, the Almighty?!
When
we fly on SIA, there are rules and regulations you have to abide by, including
things you should and should NOT do. You
cannot for example, say, “I will NOT eat plane food; I will lit up naked fire
and cook my own food”. That would be
disastrous if one or more people do that!
Another
silly example, but nevertheless is a valid one, is that you cannot say, “I want
to sit outside of the plane!” No, you
cannot open the plane door in mid-air and decide you want to sit outside of the
plane!
It
is so, too, when you walk with God, there are rules and regulations (those who say they are saved by grace and
purport that, that “saved by grace” meant that there are no rules and
regulations, are plain naïve).
So,
while it is true there is nothing to fear when you are walking with God, but
the issue is how are you walking with God? Are you really walking with God? Are
you having the situation of “God is going there, but you are NOT going there,
but here?!” Or are you ignoring “Hey,
you cannot get to the outside of the plane!” (so to speak). You can try it, NOT be “an obedient
passenger”, and see what will happen. On second thought, don’t do it, don’t
blame me if you are man-handled! God is
graceful and merciful, still you and I cannot profane His grace.
Are
you walking after and with God? The
walk with God is a walk “after and with” God.
It is NOT God to walk with you, but it is you follow God. It is you follow Him, and you walk with
Him. If you follow Him NOT, you won’t be
walking with Him, no matter what you may think or say! Therefore, walking with God, always
involves seeking Him, and earnestly and diligently, too.
Angle no. 2 - Leave
room for God
What
is the other posture of faith that I want to touch on? It is connotated in this “Surely, you do NOT
need to do, to this extent!” Or another
simple way to put it, “Leave room for God”.
Are
you God or God is God? Is it NOT you are
following Him; or is it you are saying He is following you? If you leave no room for God to do His part,
you are in fact, NOT following Him; you are saying, “You just watch and see; or
you (God!) tag along” If there is any
tagging along, it is you and I, tag along God, NOT the other way round!
When
we try in the extreme to cover all grounds, so to speak, it is NOT only, we
have no faith, we are saying (to God) we are on our own! And that is pride! Needless to say, God is NOT pleased with a
prideful person (James 4:6)
Don’t
get me wrong; I am NOT saying God cannot be expecting you and I, to be able to
independently do certain things. Maybe
an illustration is this:
When
you are small, a child, your father or mother may teach you how to brush your
teeth, but now you can brush your teeth, and your father or mother is NOT at
all bothered with this activity of yours, although they would still be keen to
know if you brush your teeth regularly. Is your dad NOT interested in your life
anymore? If He loves you, you try
getting married, all without him (NOT informing him, NOT getting his views, NOT
involving him in the wedding proper, etc), you can see if he is pleased or
NOT. Of course, he is (interested in
your life), and of course, he is NOT pleased.
Don’t stray, don’t
run ahead
Of
course, in our walk with God, it can also be that we run ahead of God; but
don’t do that. We are sheep, He is our
Shepherd; we still are to follow Him, or we may fall into the ravine, for
example; painful for us and painful for God!
You and I, should NOT stray from, and we should NOT run ahead of, our
Shepherd.
Can please without
faith?
Now,
can you and I please God without faith?
We may do a thing or two, without faith or without specific regard to
God, or as NOT unto God (like brushing your teeth; even this, can be argued to be
with faith), but as a walk
(and if you looked at the earlier verse, Heb 11:5 {blog text is Heb 11:6}, you
see it there, a walk with God {Enoch’s walk with God – Gen 5:24}), you cannot be pleasing to God, if you
operate without faith, so very often.
Heb
11:5 (KJV) - By faith Enoch was translated that he
should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for
before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
This
Hebrews 11:5 was quoted from Gen 5:21-24.
Gen
5:21-14 (KJV) - 21 And Enoch lived sixty and five
years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat
Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the
days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with
God: and he was not; for God took him.
The
Genesis passage above revealed to us, that Enoch did NOT walk with God from day
one, but after he reached 65 years old, and he walked with God for 300 years
before he was translated to Heaven, by-passing mortal death.
But, but …
But
I could be wrong, make the wrong move, when I try to walk in faith (that is why
I walk in FACTS/SIGHT), then how, bro Anthony? You ask yourself: Isn’t He your Lord, and
isn’t He faithful, and isn’t He mindful of you and caring of you, and isn’t He all capable, and knows how to take care of you meanwhile, if you will love and
call unto Him; and isn’t He to you, dependable?
Only this (I say): “Will you die,
die, follow Him?”
But
bro Anthony, how can I begin to move in the right direction of operating always
with faith? For a start, get into this posture (meaning, always,
asking): “What would Jesus do, for this
thing, situation or scenario?” This
puts us into the mode of doing thing as unto the Lord.
Anthony Chia,
high.expressions
PS: I have
arrived? No.
