Pleasing God is desire of every Christian

The desire of every Christian should be to please our Heavenly Father by our deeds, words and attitudes. James shows us ways the Christian can please God. The book of James is a manual on the Christian life.

God’s will for every Christian is that we grow spiritually. The writer of Hebrews challenges us, “,,, let us ... go on to maturity” (6:1). God wants us to be like His Son. As Christians our standard for measuring our growth is not another Christian, but the Word of God.

Problems come to everyone. Life means problems; therefore, we spend much of our days facing and solving problems in the right attitude.

In James 2:8 we are told to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If we do, we will be sensitive to their needs and hurts. Jesus said, “In as much as you have done it unto the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:41-46). We are judged by how we treat people.

The Bible says, “Speak the truth in love.” Our words are to build people up. Paul says, “Don’t let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth” (Ephesians 4:29). The Christian is to master his mouth (James 1:26).

James tells us that selfishness and judging others are two causes of conflict for the Christian (4:2-3). We see this conflict in marriage, at work, in our relationships with friends and with our God (4:11-12). We are told not to judge because (1) we are not God, (2) only God knows all the facts, and (3) we don’t know the motives.

 The Christian is patient and prayerful (James 5:7, 11. 16). These two go together. One of several illustrations James uses is the farmer. There are no overnight crops. The farmer must wait and pray and as he does he learns patience.

The only thing that counts is what God thinks of our life. Paul expressed what should be the desire of every Christian — “Therefore we make it our aim ... to be well-pleasing to Him” (2 Corinthians 5:9).