The bottom line is that if we want to be pleasing to God, we can be pleasing to God! Why would one NOT want to please God? The only reason I can think of is so that he can please himself instead of God, and, this is what many choose to do. Remember Matthew 7:23? “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
To be God’s people today, we must, as Paul said, undergo circumcision of the heart. Colossians 2:11-12 says, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” When one is baptized, a person is forgiven of sin and his heart is circumcised.
God’s word teaches us how to partake of the Lord’s supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-29). When we follow this teaching by faith, we will please God. What does this entail?
The apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences” (2 Corinthians 5:9-11).
We must approach God by faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” How can we get faith? Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” There’s the key! We must study and learn the word of God. It is when we know God’s word that we can apply it to our lives and be well pleasing to Him.
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.”