This week I have been thinking about the idea of pleasing God. This concept is all over the New Testament! It prompted me to include this excerpt from The Disciple-Making Parent.
Pleasing God
This discussion of pleasing the Spirit leads us to a surprising doctrine related to fighting sin. We evangelicals love to emphasize the doctrine of justification by faith. It is a glorious truth. When we repent of our sin and place our faith in Jesus Christ, the Father imputes our sin to Christ and his righteousness to us. Without any merit on our own, the judge’s verdict comes down on Jesus and we, the guilty, walk away righteous. Truly, it is amazing grace—astounding favor—that I the guilty one may go free!
However, in that proclamation, I am afraid that our young people can hear something we do not mean. Christianity becomes a status attained, like a membership in a sports club. Jesus has paid the dues for me to join the club.
I accepted his payment. But whether I actually choose to exercise in this new club is a whole different matter. Our children (and we) can have a detached, passive view of their walk with God.
Scripture also declares that I am adopted as a child of God. As his child, my actions can please him or grieve him. Paul said he was seeking to please God the Father, not men (Galatians 1:10). And Paul made it his aim to please Christ (2 Corinthians 5:9). In other places, Scripture commands us to find out what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5:10) and do this more and more (1 Thessalonians 4:1).
Wired to Please
Why is this motivation so important? We are wired to seek approval. Our young children (and older children) want their parents’ encouragement and blessing. Jesus heard his Father’s blessing at the beginning and in the middle of his ministry (Matthew 3:17, 17:5). Our children, too, will seek approval as they grow older. God desires that they should seek to live to please him.
This is a radical but empowering thought for our children. Our understanding of God is deficient if we think of him as an immovable judge, satisfied but unfeeling. Instead, our lives can bring pleasure to our Heavenly Father, our Savior, and His Spirit. Charles Spurgeon understood this years ago when he stated, “The greatest joy of a Christian is to give joy to Christ.” This is a worldview-shaking thought—I, personally, can bring joy or grief to Christ! In fact, pleasing the Lord is a motivation for our children to obey us. “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord” (Colossians 3:20).
As a parent I want to bring the idea of pleasing God into my shepherding of my children. When they are young children, we are training them to obey and please us. But as they grow older, we want to hand off our guidance to the Spirit’s guidance. We move from our approval to the Spirit’s approval. Seeking to please the Spirit moves Christianity from a list of do’s and don’ts to a personal walk with their Savior.
Want to think more about teaching our children about the flesh and the Spirit?
Read chapter 9 in The Disciple-Making Parent in which I talk about pleasing God. Or listen to that chapter in the free audiobook. Fill out the form on this page to get your free audiobook if you don’t already have it.
