Pleasing Dad

A series on the book of Hebrews:
Encouragement to endure and live faithfully
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hebrews 13 

[When you first start to follow Christ, often it’s done with great excitement. It’s like falling in love when all you can think about is the other person, and you want to tell everyone you know. But then the day-to-day pressures of living can push out those feelings and dull your enthusiasm. In this series, we will look at how the author of Hebrews tried to counteract falling out of love with Jesus.]

  

In the fall of 1968 when I left for my freshman year of college, my Dad told me that he expected me to write a letter every week. Of course, this was long before everybody had a cell phone, let alone emails. In fact, I’m not even sure that there was a pay phone on our dorm floor.

 

I must have complied with my Dad’s request. It was all he asked me to do to please him. It was left unsaid that he also expected me to attend classes and keep up with my schoolwork. But still, it wasn’t a burdensome request for pleasing Dad.

 

Over the generations, Israel had gotten off track. They had become focused on obeying rules, rather than developing a relationship; offering sacrifices, rather than showing mercy; observing religious festivals, rather than walking humbly with God. They had lost sight of how to truly please the Lord.

 

In this chapter, the writer of Hebrews ended his letter with verses about how the Hebrews could please God. The writer exhorted them about their moral and religious behavior.  No topic was off limits.

 

He told them to keep loving one another; to keep their marriage sexually pure; to stay free from the love of money; to avoid strange teachings; to follow the example of their spiritual mentors. He reminded them that pleasing God included trusting in His promises, in who he is and in what he did for them.

 

^5b “I will never fail you.
    I will never abandon you.”       NLT

 

 ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.          NIV

 

¹² So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood.                NLT

 

In the same way that my Dad told me how to please him, the writer told the Hebrews how to please God. He didn’t focus on rules or religion, but on relationships.

¹⁵ Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. ¹⁶ And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.          NLT

 

The prophet Micah, after asking what offerings would please God, came to this conclusion.

 

⁸ The Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.                 GNT

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

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