Hebrews 11:6 provides crucial information to those who want to please God. The verse is worth reading, rereading, and then giving careful thought.

Hebrews 11 is often called the Hall of Faith. The author had just finished talking about Enoch and the fact that Enoch had pleased God and was taken up to heaven. Then he wrote verse 6: “Without faith it is impossible to please him.” It is a big statement. 

As Christians, we do a lot of things that pertain to our faith that might not be the product of our faith. Those things might seem “faithful” but may have nothing to do with the direct leadership of God. How do we make certain that our actions and our works are motivated by our faith? Pleasing people by our actions is possible, but, without faith, pleasing God is impossible. How do we know the difference?

How can we be careful to allow our faith to produce our works? The rest of the verse provides our answer: “whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” We have to live closely with God to know he exists. We also have to believe he is God and seek his will to live for our promised rewards.

To put it bluntly, we can spend our lives doing good things we hope will please the Lord. But the way to be certain is to know God exists and that he has a voice that will speak his leadership into your life. We aren’t rewarded for the good things we do unless those good things were God’s ideas. Doing one God-thing is better than spending hours and hours accomplishing our own “good” ideas. God rewards “those who seek him.”

Wisdom is pleasing God. Wisdom will seek to live closely with God, faithfully knowing he has the plans for your calling mapped out. Seek to faithfully accomplish those God-things and your wisdom will please him.