“Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1 NLT)
Who are we trying to please?
We can live a life in which we try to please others. People-pleasing is never easy. Which people should we be pleasing? Obviously, we can’t please everyone so how do we decide who to make happy? If we spend our lives always trying to please other people, we will find ourselves frustrated, exhausted, and depressed.
We can live a life in which we try to please ourselves. This is the category that most of us fall into. We all naturally want to look out for ourselves and those closest to us. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to provide for ourselves and our families. The problem is that too many stop there and only live for themselves. Jesus asked, “What does it profit a man to gain the world but to lose his soul?”
We can live a life that is pleasing to God. This is the hardest but most rewarding way to live. When we live a life in which we are seeking God’s will and priorities for our lives, everything just seems to fall into place. God has placed in the DNA of every person a mission that only they can fulfill. God has a plan for our lives that is bigger and more incredible than we could ever imagine. We will never know or experience that plan unless we decide that we are going “to live in a way that pleases God.”
What is one life shift you need to make?
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