Five things you can do to please God!
God doesn’t want just our obedience. He wants all of us.
March 28
And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?
Deuteronomy 10:12-13
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Five things you can do to please God!
Moses knows that his time on this earth is short. And so he wants to give to the Israelites everything he can before he dies. Moses is a loving shepherd that has a sincere desire to see the flock that God entrusted to him does well after he leaves. Here Moses gives the Israelites some very clear direction about what God expects from them.
There are five things that the Israelites are required by God to do. These five things are; to fear Him, to live according to His Word, to love Him, to worship Him, and to obey Him. Within these two verses we find the formula to living a life that pleases God. If we do these five things we will please God because this is what He expected of the Israelites and it is what He expects of us as Christians.
First, God expects us to fear Him. This is not fear as in being afraid. It means to hold Him in reverential awe. It means to treat Him with the greatest of dignity and respect. It means to hold Him in the highest regard, much like we would do with a king or a president.
Second, God expects us to live according to His Word. We are to live by His Word. The Bible is the source of all we need to know about God and what He expects from us. Within His Word we find His promises, we learn of His power and might, and we find examples, both good and bad of how to live this life.
Third, God expects us to love Him. God has done that he for us because He loves us. Love is His very nature. God wants us to love Him back. Fourth, God expects us to worship Him. We were created to worship. God wants us to fill that need in our lives to worship with the worship of Him and no one or nothing else.
Fifth, God expects us to obey Him. It is interesting that this is the last one on the list. This seems to be the one that we struggle with the most. You would think that it ought to be the first one mentioned. I believe that is because we can put too much emphasis on obedience and neglect the other four things that God expects. If you practice the other four things that God expects of you, you are going to be much more likely to be obedient.
God doesn’t want just our obedience. He wants all of us. Not only does He want it, He expects us to do all five of these things. It is required of us as Christians. Jesus, teach us how to do a spiritual inventory of these five areas every day so that we can be doing all that you require of us.