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.
Those photos are absolutely beautiful!!!! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you.
Love these photos. Thanks
Photos reduce stress . Makes you calm down and smile with the nature.
Love invokes “sweet” feelings. God has perfect and holy emotions. God is love, and He displays love. God has compassion, mercy, and anger. Good feels joy, sorrow, grief, and jealousy. Every emotion that God expresses is for His divine and sovereign purpose. God’s emotions demonstrate the relational nature of God. Our God is a living God. He is not distant and indifferent to us. God is touched by our experiences. God is pleased or displeased with our deeds. What can we possibly learn from God’s perfect and holy emotions?
Our deeds/actions matter to God. This is so because of God’s moral and holy nature. God’s love and justice will be caused to respond to what we do (Psalm 11:7, Proverbs 12:22). When we sin, it displeases God because sin separates us from a loving God. God is deeply concerned with the way we conduct our lives. How we conduct our lives will affect our relationship with God (Isaiah 59:2, Hebrews 10:26-31). God will not overlook our sins because He loves us! His love will respond with divine justice. It is truly comforting to know that God does not forsake us when we displease Him (1 John 1:9). As much as God’s love is unconditional, His relationship with us is conditional. Any good relationship must be mutually pleasing. Our God delights in obedience because it agrees with His moral and holy nature.
When we please God through our actions, it is a demonstration that we are committed to a loving relationship with Him (John 14:15). The Bible strongly indicates that the whole duty of mankind is to please God (Ecclesiastes 12:13, Micah 6:8, Colossians 1:10, Corinthians 5:9, 1 Thessalonians 4:1). How possibly can we fail to hear the strong words of Paul pleading with us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to please God?
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him” – (Hebrews 12:1 - NLT)
Thank you for sharing the last text. I did not read it in this translation. The text is from Rom. 12:1
https://www.bible.com/bible/116/ROM.12.1
Over and over again, Jesus testifies to the saving Power and Glory of God, our heavenly Father. Will we ever come to wholeheartedly believe and open our hearts and minds to let Him lead us?
It is factually true that we cannot give God anything, as everything belongs to Him. Though there is one 'thing' which is most important, most precious and most pleasing to Him - when we allow His Love for us to restore our Love of Him, allowing Him to reunite us with Himself.
I haven’t looked ahead yet, but I do declare, there most likely will be a parable this week on the prodigal son. That would be my choice depicting a God with arms wide open, welcoming His son and daughter home. Why, even throwing a banquet for the redeemed, is what I understand He has planned. Seventh-Day Adventist do believe this even if it is not in the scriptures Kenny. I do believe that a banquet with Christ being the host and also could it be the server. I believe so! He will come by and say what else can I serve you, just as He did to the disciples and, we will not say I am not worthy, we will say in all humility: Thank-you my Lord for saving me. Thank-you Lord for making me whole. Thank-you Lord for giving to me, Thy great salvation so rich and free.
I believe we have learned from Peters experience’s recorded in the Bible.
Seventh-day Adventist are not all falling for traps, be that as it may. I believe the picture above depicts the prodigal son. What do you think, and what is Christ parable of the prodigal son depicting? Yes it does fit well into Zachariah 3:17.
Now, the ending of the parable is where the picture is at. The father has arms wide open because the son decided to turn back to him as he was tired of being without what the father had planned for him, or if you prefer, intended for him in the 1st place. Yes many of us have to go through schools of hard knocks to fall at the foot of the cross of Christ.
A loving God with arms wide open certainly depicts a loving God to me.
Enjoyed your slide show, Maurice. You are a gifted photographer.Thank you for your pictures.
Just by looking at the memory text it appears to me that our mighty God is just loving us to pieces, just because He is love (1 Jn 4:8). Even when we go astray our God can not help but just love us. (He does not excuse our lack of repentence) God can only be one thing "love". His love was poured out at the cross, for God so loved the world Jn 16:36. He loves the seemingly unlovable, loves those in and those outside the church. If we respond by loving Him back we bask in the rewards of a relationship deeper than the relationships we have in our earthly relationships. The idea of Jehovah Immanuel our God who is with us, loving us and rejoicing over us with singing speaks to me of the God who is worth of our praise.