Luke 16:13-14 - Is God Pleased with Me?

Luke 16:13-14 (ESV)

[13] No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

[14] The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.

The Pharisees were lovers of money. They justified it by reasoning that God blesses those with whom he is pleased. Money was evidence of God’s blessing, therefore God was pleased with them. Anyone in poverty was obviously a sinner because God had not blessed them with money. What they missed, and what Jesus proceeded to point out to them, is that God is more concerned about their hearts than their pocketbooks. He said in verse 15, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

This makes me wonder what other things we see as “evidence” of God’s pleasure and blessing, and whether we are using that to justify bad behavior. I’m sitting here on my deck enjoying the cool morning with a blue sky, green trees and beautiful roses. Is that evidence that God is pleased with me? Probably not. It has more to do with God’s grace and mercy. Matthew 5:45 says, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” The fact that our church budget is being met does not necessarily prove that God is pleased with us. The fact that my children are not rebelling is not necessarily proof that God is pleased with me. We find all sorts of ways to justify ourselves before God, but he knows our hearts.

So how do we know if God is pleased with us? First, he is pleased with us when he sees us through the lens of Jesus Christ. It is the blood of Christ that sets us free and makes us pure. Second, we need to learn to listen to the Spirit of God for it is the Spirit that convinces us of the true condition of our hearts. Third, we listen well to the Word of God and evaluate our attitudes and actions against the Word. Christianity is not about constantly groveling before God because we are sinners. But neither is it blindly going our way assuming God’s pleasure because we have money in our pocket and everything is rosy. Believe that God is pleased with you in spite of you, not because of you. Listen to the Spirit and the Word, and rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross, not in your own goodness.