“And 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 seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Not only does faith allow us to please God, but it is impossible to please God without it. “The men of old gained approval” from God by faith (Hebrews 11:2). Several of these heroes of faith were cited by the Hebrew writer in this chapter as examples for Christians.
Remember what we noted in the introduction to this material – what faith is and what faith does. Faith involved believing in God, trusting in God, and obeying God. These are all necessary in order to please God.
- We must believe God in order to please Him. Referring to the Gentiles, Paul wrote, “For even though they knew God, they did honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). Though they had ample evidence to believe in the existence of God (Romans 1:20; cf. Psalm 19:1; Acts 14:17), they rejected this evidence. In this state of refusing to believe in the existence of God, they would never honor Him.
- We must trust in God in order to please Him. The wise man said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). As he continued, he explained one of the ways this is done: “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce” (Proverbs 3:9). To honor God from the first of one’s produce demonstrated that it was a priority to show honor to Him. Not only that, but it was an indication that one trusted in God – the giver of all good things (James 1:17) – that He would continue to provide even after the first of the produce was received. Paul said we are not to “fix [our] hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).
- We must obey God in order to please Him. Paul told the brethren in Colossae, “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects” (Colossians 1:10). Their walk referred to their manner of life. To please God, they needed to live a life of obedience. We are to “walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light” in order to be cleansed of our sins. (1 John 1:7). Remember the example of the Israelites and how they regularly disobeyed God (1 Corinthians 10:5-11). Their disobedience was directly tied to their lack of faith. In citing this example, the Hebrew writer used disobedience and unbelief as synonyms: “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:18-19).
Our purpose in life is to please God. When John was shown a vision of heaven, he saw the creatures and elders around the throne praising God because He “created all things, and for [His] pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11, KJV). All things were created because it was God’s will for them to be created. They exist in order to please Him.
We often point out that our purpose in life is to “fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Both of these – pleasing God and reverent obedience – are directly tied to our faith. If we do not have faith in God, there is no motivation to strive to please Him. Also, if we do not have faith in God, we will have no reason to fear Him or obey Him. In order to fulfill our purpose in life – to live in such a way that is pleasing to God – we must have faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
