«That you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God» (l Thessalonians 4:1).
THE ENEMY ALWAYS WORKS to take us to extremes: either we please ourselves or we live looking for ways to please everyone else.
Life is not a holiday where everyone can do what they want. We don’t live in an amusement park, we live on a battlefield. The church is not a pleasure cruise but a lifeboat. It is not a finished building, it is a building under construction.Doing what we want feeds our ego. No one can live for themselves in a healthy way. Nor is it possible to live trying to please everyone. If we do that, wed surely be stepping on principles that ultimately hurt us.
Steve Jobs used to say, «If we want to leave everyone happy, then we have to dedicate ourselves to selling ice cream.» If we want to please everyone, we will integrate into ourselves the inconsistencies of society. Paul was very defined, he had a priority, to please God. This brings about stability and security.
To please God must be our purpose, responsibility, and joy. To please is more than to obey. It includes the way, the manner, the form, and the motivation with which we do it. Pleasing God cannot be occasional, momentary, or seasonal. It must be permanent.
Now, how do we know what He likes? Asking Him through His Word. This constrains us to obeying God. Of course, in a society without values, obedience becomes decidedly complicated. In I Thessalonians 4:4, Paul uses an example concerning marriage and moral purity, saying, «Each of you should know how to live with your wife in a holy and honorable way» (GNT), instead of practicing a disorderly passion.
Any sexual activity outside this context of a heterosexual, monogamous marriage distorts God’s plan. We do not need to do a survey or research to notice how different plan.
No one pleases, obeys, and honors the other unless it is at the base of love. A faithful and loving husband loves and does what is pleasing to his wife. If you have love, nothing will seem burdensome, if you do not have love, you don’t think about pleasing others, but only of pleasing yourself.
When we please, we obey and glorify.
We honor God through our bodies,
as well as the spiritual body, which is the church.