Well Pleasing – Part 1
One concern we hear during our Lord’s Supper prayers is, “Help is to do this in a way that is well pleasing to You.” What does it mean? The prayer itself expresses a desire. The desire is that God would be “well pleased” with what we are doing. Why do we have that desire? What does it mean?
Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Did Enoch please God? Genesis 5:24 says, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” The Greek translation of Genesis 11:5 says, “And Enoch was well-pleasing to God, and was not found, because God translated him.” The ancient translators considered that “walked with God” meant to be “well-pleasing to God.” The apostles Paul validates this connection in 1 Thessalonians 4:1: “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God.”
What does “pleasing God” mean? Hebrews 11:5 uses the same Greek word that the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) uses in Genesis 5:24. It is the Greek word εὐαρεστέω (euaresteo). It is a compound word from εὖ (eu) meaning good or well, and ἀρεστός (arestos) meaning agreeable or pleasing. When these two words join, they have the idea of “well pleasing” or “fully acceptable” or “entirely satisfying.”
We want our partaking of the Lord’s Supper to be fully acceptable and entirely satisfying to God. That is our desire. Is it a valid desire? Should we want this? Can we even accomplish this?
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley