It has been a theme we have hinted at during Life Together a couple of times already, but it is worth mentioning again - It may be impossible to please some people, but it is possible to please God.

Some of us have people in our lives that simply will not be pleased with anything we do. When I was a youth and outreach pastor in Boston, I had the unique opportunity to help several young men begin their life journeys with Jesus. I would take them out to lunch, one at a time, to have a heart to heart conversation about them and God. At the end of our conversation, one of these guys told me that he wanted to pray and ask Jesus to forgive his sins and come into his life. I said to him, “You go to church, have Christian parents, go to a Christian school - why haven’t you ever done this before?” He answered, “No one has ever asked me to before.” It was quite a moment. We left the restaurant and sat in my car where he prayed and asked Jesus to change his life. So many young people did what he did that summer that we began calling the front passenger seat of our Jetta the “throne of grace” or the “mercy seat.” I took him home and urged him to talk to his mom and dad about what had just happened. Later that afternoon, I sent an email to our youth ministry leadership team telling them what had happened. Well, his mom was furious with me. To this day, I am baffled by why. I had been burdened for her son, initiated an important conversation with him, and had had a front row seat to see God’s grace in his life. But that wasn’t good enough for her. She was impossible to please.

I am so glad that God is not like that. It is not only possible for us to please God, I think that God is rooting for us to please him. He is longing for it. He wants to be pleased by us, to take delight in us.

And because of that, it is not difficult to do - we can simply love him and trust him and obey him and live the life he has designed for us. And in that, being ourselves for his glory, we please God.

Let’s talk more about it.