It's Important To Please God...
(Now Here's How To Do It!)
Pleasing God is an important and worthwhile goal of each Christian. Throughout His word, our God has revealed the different things that will enable us to please Him (or avoid being displeasing to Him). Searching these various requirements for pleasing God is an important exercise for each of us so that we might be more acquainted with what our God desires.
In order to please God, we must first praise Him. David wrote, "I will praise the name of God with a song... this also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bull" (Psalm 69:30-31). The Psalmist does a masterful job of providing us with the mind of God wherein His desire has little to do with what we give Him but rather what our attitudes are toward Him. And, if our attitudes are filled with a true, genuine praise for our Creator, then the scriptures teach us that He'll be pleased.
Pleasing God also requires us to have a spiritual mindset. After spending time talking about the value of a spiritual mind and the danger of a carnal mind, Paul clearly writes, "those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8). It's impossible to show God how much He means and how important He is unless our minds are centered on His word, His cause, and the consistent relaying of His message to others.
Thirdly, pleasing God requires our faith. Without faith, it's "impossible" to please our God (Hebrews 11:6). Such a point is really quite elementary: if one doesn't believe and trust in God, how can that person be pleasing to Him? Yet, this elementary point needs to be appreciated as a Christians' faith must always be growing and emboldened in service to the Christ.
In order to please God, one must rely solely on God's word. In Paul's letter to the Galatians, he pointed out that he does not seek to "please men" but instead to glorify God (Galatians 1:10). The way he goes about doing this is by not "turning away" from the gospel truth to believe in false teachings. God doesn't want us to follow the ideas of any particular man or denomination. He wants us to follow Him and serve Him only.
It's important that we please God. And thanks be to Him for the fact that He's has provided us His word so that in reading it, we can know how to go about doing just that!