Sabbath: To Be Pleasing to God
Daily Lesson for Sabbath 11th of January 2025
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 15:11-32, Zephaniah 3:17, Ephesians 5:25-28, Isaiah 43:4, Romans 8:1, Romans 5:8, Mark 9:17-29.
Memory Text:
“The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, NKJV).
Imagine the following scenario: a five-year-old child comes to his father with a poorly wrapped gift on Father’s Day. Excitedly, he hands the gift to his father.
Imagine that the father says, “Son, I do not care about your gift. After all, there is nothing you could give me that would please me. Anything you could give me, I could get for myself, and anything you give to me was either bought with my money or made from materials that I paid for. So, keep your gift. I do not need it or want it. But I love you, anyway.”
Ouch!
What do you think of this father’s reaction? Such words as heartless, cold, and unfeeling come to mind. Is this the way God responds to us? Can we actually be pleasing to God? Hard as it is to imagine, even we as fallen beings, corrupted by sin, and prone to evil—yes, we can be pleasing to God! In other words, God does not look upon us, or the gifts that we bring Him, with the attitude of that father. On the contrary, we can be pleasing to God, but only through Christ.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 18.
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Seventh-day Adventists often fall into the trap of trying to please God. I once knew a person who thought he had reached the stage where he was nearly perfect enough to be pleasing to God. He had to overcome the desire to eat ice cream!
Sometimes we get so sin-focused that we lose sight of the good things of life. That is a form of selfishness. If we start with the premise that God loves us, we should find ways of sharing that love with others. And, maybe that includes eating ice cream with your grandkids!
Here is a little present for you:
Happy Sabbath Slide Show
It is in HD format so should look good on a big screen.