pleasing God

I don’t really think of myself as a control freak. I’m not OCD, or even CDO (which, as the joke goes, is OCD in alphabetical order like it should be.) I have, however, been accused of both things, and I think it’s because I am a fan of clarity and order. I like to understand why, but most of all I just want to know what to do.

That can make reading Paul hard sometimes, but at other times he shows a real gift for communicating practically about life, packing a lot into a few concise verses. I ran across a passage like that this morning, in Col 1:9-12: 

"We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light."

These verses are so straightforward: Paul continually prays for a specific thing (knowledge of God’s will) for the Colossians, with a very specific goal (that they may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him). And then, here’s the really good part. Paul gives four concrete ways that my life will please God. He lists bearing fruit, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened, and giving joyful thanks.

That’s what I want! Tell me what obedience looks like. Tell me what I need to do. Sure, there’s a lot to talk about relating to how to do these things, but at least I have something to compare my life to.

Are there good works or behavior changes that qualify as bearing fruit? Do I know more about God as he has revealed himself in scripture? Am I being strengthened daily by living in his strength? How joyful or thankful am I?

This all seems concrete enough to live by. It’s sort of a checklist, but not really – I think of these four as different facets on the same gem of living right. Or maybe different dimensions (think height, width, depth, weight) of the same object. There’s a lot of figuring out still to do, but there’s enough here that I can know if I’m on the right track or not.

I kind of summarize a few actions points: Do (bearing fruit), read (growing in knowledge), pray (being strengthened and giving thanks) and sing (more joyful thanks.) Life and faith are both a lot more complicated than that, but sometimes I need things to be simple enough to remember.