“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Far from being a cold observer or detached deity, this creator carefully—lovingly—fashioned first one human and then the other. He breathed life into them. He set them in a garden, lush and green, and joined them every day where they walked and talked and perhaps even laughed together. He loved them and wanted them to love him, too. He wanted them to experience him.

He wants that for you and me, too. When I think that the creator of the universe can be experienced at all and he freely offers us that opportunity, I can hardly believe it. And I want to know more about our great God, including how I can please him.

When we love people, we want to do things that please them. For instance, because I love my husband, I often cook his favorite chicken dish for dinner. My daughter likes pancakes so when I have extra time in the morning, I make them just for her. It makes me feel good to please them. When we begin to experience God and to love him more, we want to please him. Even Jesus wanted to please his Father. He said, “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (John 5:30).

How can we please the God of the universe? Scripture outlines some specific ways:

• By having faith. It’s impossible to please him without it (Hebrews 11:6).

• By doing good and sharing with others (13:16).

• By bearing fruit, growing in the knowledge of God, gaining strength—and therefore endurance and patience—from his power, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father (Colossians 1:10-12).

Every summer of my childhood, I attended Vacation Bible School at our church. Two things I remember most about those fun weeks in the sweltering heat were snack time (cherry Kool-Aid and Ritz crackers!) and Scripture memory. Over the years, I memorized several Bible verses, including James 1:22: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only” (King James Version). This verse (and many others I learned) still comes to mind frequently, maybe because it’s so clear: we’re to obey God’s Word.

When I obeyed my parents, they were pleased. But if I went into my older sister’s room without permission or didn’t come inside from playing when they called me, I knew pretty quickly that they were not pleased. Yet even when I didn’t obey them, they still loved me.

The Father feels the same way about us. We cannot earn his love or our salvation. Nothing we do could ever make us worthy of his salvation, nor make him love us any less. John tells us that we love God because he loved us first (1 John 4:19). We want to please him because of our love for him and our gratitude for what he has done for us. Doing what God says in his Word pleases him.

My parents became good friends with our associate minister and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Bearden. One Sunday evening, when I was nine or 10, Mr. Bearden, in his glasses, brown plaid coat and tie, and hair slicked back in the style of the day, preached from John 15. As he read the passage (from the King James Version of course), his voice, with its slow, southern lilt, seemed to caress the words: “I am the true vine, my Father is the husbandman . . . . Abide in me, and I in you” (vv. 1-4). Maybe because I’d never heard that strange word “husbandman” before, that passage has always stuck with me. I’ve heard it preached from the New International Version half a dozen times since then and it’s not quite the same. The NIV uses “remain in me” but I prefer the old-fashioned “abide.” Either way, the meaning is the same: the Lord wants us to spend time with him, to be in him.

When I fell in love with my husband a few years ago, I couldn’t wait to be with him. Because of our work and other responsibilities and the distance between our homes, we saw each other only on weekends. During the week I couldn’t wait to talk to him on the phone. I would re-read his e-mails. I looked forward to Friday and Saturday nights. When they finally came, the hours flew by, and before we knew it, it was time for him to go home. When he left, it felt as though he took part of me with him. Over time, it became increasingly painful for us to say goodbye. I longed for the day—for our wedding day—when we would be together always.

The good news is, God never goes home. In fact, he is our home. We don’t ever have to be apart from him. We can be with him every day, anytime we want. Our desire to abide with him now, in this life, pleases him. Our longing for him will find its fulfillment in Heaven for all eternity.

We can be with (or abide in) God in many ways. When my husband has his Sunday night prayer time, he dims the lights in his study, lights a candle, and prays out loud. The candle, which our church tradition rarely uses, provides an increased sense of sacredness, and praying out loud helps him focus on the presence of God. He says it’s like having a conversation with him in a very intimate place.

Another way to be in him is through Scripture reading and study. Last year a friend of mine suddenly became ill and almost died. During the weeks she was in a coma in ICU, I would read some of my favorite Scripture passages to her, ones I’d underlined during hard times in my own life. Nurses and family members would come and go, but I consistently felt the Lord’s presence in that room. Saying and hearing his Word comforted me in those overwhelming and frightening times. Sometimes I couldn’t read because of the tears and I couldn’t pray because I didn’t have the words. Regardless, looking at my friend’s sweet face, I could rest in him because I knew she was his, and he was at work.

I also like to be with him through the beauty around me. I love sunsets and sunrises, the ocean and the mountains, the view outside my office window. Some of my most memorable times of abiding in God have been sparked by his creation. I sometimes say, “Look, God! Look what you made! Thank you!” Invariably, the beauty of creation leads me to worship and to just be with him, which pleases him and me too. The arts, whether French Impressionist paintings, photography, music, or a moving moment in theater, help me abide in God. They pull me in and slow me down until I stop and enjoy being still with God.

Another way to abide with God is through the senses. He gave us our senses so we could interact with the world and ultimately with him. When I smell stargazer lilies, I think of my wedding bouquet, and of how grateful I am that God brought us together. The sound of my daughter’s laughter makes me thank him for her. The taste of bacon and eggs makes me think of my mother’s hot breakfasts and leads me to thank him for my parents. When I touch the thin, crinkly pages of my Bible, I think of what he has revealed about himself in them. When I see the cross or communion cup, I think of Jesus’ unimaginable sacrifice for me. Moments like these spent with God please him and leave me wanting more. Much more.

On a day-to-day basis, I fall short of doing his Word and being in him. I let distractions, schedules, junk mail, clutter, stubbornness, and many other things get in the way. Still, having grown in him through the years, my desire is to please him. I want to love and enjoy him more. I want to obey him readily, seek him out eagerly, and experience him as fully as possible in this life. And in the life to come, when he says my name, I want to hear in his voice that he is pleased—well pleased—with me. |L