Pleasing God

       Why is this paramount?

        First and foremost, because our beloved Christ Jesus did this,  in everything he thought/said/did and taught.  We must do likewise.

        The New Testament states:  "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" -- his, not yours and mine.  (Paul in Philippians 2:13)

        And here's where the battles come in.  Just about everything that confronts us in the world as we know it pushes against this.  The carnal mind would try to get us to forget all about what God wants for us, what He unerringly sees is best for His child, if it could. It is to our immediate and everlasting benefit that we not let it.

        False, material belief would convince us that we first have to satisfy mere human opinions, expectations, and desires -- our own and that of others -- and that conforming our life to divine demands can come later, if ever.  Truth reveals to us that doing God's will is much more important, and that this is the only way we can really find lasting -- or even immediate -- peace, joy, and freedom.

        We each have two mental roads confronting us continuously -- the broad one leading to matter, self, and limitation, and the narrow one that paradoxically leads to expanding horizons, satisfying purpose, and lasting happiness, to those added things Jesus implied in his command, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."  (Matthew 6:33)

        A childlike longing to please God, however faint at first, will set our feet on the road that widens into increasing harmony and freedom.  Moreover, every effort to make good this longing in our day-to-day doings will not only carry us farther along this road but also spare us so many of mortal thought's unnecessary side trips.

        As Jesus illustrated for us, the individual who is most free is the one who knows whom he is trying to please -- and knows this One is God.  As the teachings of Christian Science make plain, we are not independent, self-sufficient creatures totally unrelated to God;  we are the very expression of His being!  And we exist to obey and adore Him.