When I want to please my little daughter, I offer her ,her favorite dish.
I may not like that dish, but to please her I offer her favourite. So, if you
want to please someone, you got to know what pleases that someone’s heart and
do accordingly. When it comes to pleasing God, the same rule applies.Many times
we buy for others what we like most! That is not correct.You cannot offer just what
pleases you,if you want to please God.Offer God what pleases Him! Ok,now ,what
pleases God most?
Is it, sacrifice, baptism, tithes
and offerings, visions and prophesies, signs and wonders, miracles, tongues, worshiping
continuously for long hours, spending your talents for Him? If you go through the
Holy Bible, you will come across lot of verses indicating His heart’s desire,be
it the Old testament or the New testament. Many verses declare that’ obedience’
to His commands, is the most important thing in pleasing God. This is emphasized every
where in the Bible. So being a Christian, the fore-most priority should be to
try to obey God’s commands honestly. Practical difficulties may come while following this priority. But with
God’s grace you can overcome them. If I could do it,any one can do it ! I will
be sharing my experience in this regard in another article.
Next to obedience, Lord always reveals His
love and compassion for the poor and needy, widows and aliens. God is keen on
justice to the poor, widows and aliens .He is against exploiting this group .He
hates partiality shown to the poor .He wants you to be generous in giving to
/helping the poor. The Lord commands in Deut 15:11‘There will always be poor
people in the land.Therefore I command you to be open-handed towards your
brothers and towards the poor and needy in your land.’ Exo 23.11 advises you to
offer the 7th year yield of your lands to the poor. In Lev 19:10,19:15.23:22
and in so many other verses Lord
instructs what should be done with
respect to this category of people .
I am not quoting all the Old Testament verses relating to this topic,for
want of space.
Similarly,in New Testament
,Jesus Christ emphasizes on helping the poor and needy in various verses. Matt
25:35,says “For I was hungry and you
gave me something to drink, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison
and you came to visit me”. When a rich man wanted to follow Jesus,Jesus said
,”If you want to be perfect,go,sell your possessions and give to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Matt 19:21).When we
give banquets for marriages etc,we normally invite people who will invite us
back for their banquets.What does Jesus say about inviting guests for the
banquets you offer? In Luke 14:13,Jesus says “ But when you give a
banquet,invite the poor,the crippled,the lame,the blind and you will be blessed”.
That shows God’s heart for the poor!
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