For a Christian, nothing should be more important than living a life that pleases God. And I believe that deep down, every genuine Christian wants to please God. This is not a natural desire. Rather, we receive it when God changes our heart and we become partakers of His Spirit. But living a life that pleases God is not happenstance. It can come about only through a daily commitment.

“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”  (2 Tim. 2:4) This verse shares valuable insight on how to please God. You see, the Lord has called each of us to be a soldier for Him. And according to this verse, if we want to please Him, we cannot allow ourselves to be entangled with the affairs of this life. We know this is true even for soldiers in our nation’s military.

From this verse, I conclude that in order for us to please God with our life, our daily priority must be those matters that pertain to the Kingdom of God. 

Even as a preacher of the gospel, I find my quest to live a life that pleases God to be a challenge. For instance, I am a father, a husband, and a preacher. These roles don’t always fit perfectly together.  I often find it hard to balance all of the associated activity. But I always bear in mind that my ultimate goal in life is to please God.  

That means I can’t attend every social gathering my family members want me to attend.  And sometimes, I can’t spend the entire day on Saturday working on my pet project at home, but I must abandon it to go and properly prepare myself to minister to God’s people on Sunday morning. 

I am saying that our passion for Christ must pervade everything else we do, if we want to please Him. 

I know this is not a popular message, but it is vitally important. Some believers spend so much time on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter that I wonder how they get much of anything else done in a day. 

And it amazes me how addicted we have become to all those little gadgets we buy such as smart phones, tablet computers, e-book readers, etc. I love all of these. But we must be careful not to allow them to consume excessive amounts of our time, lest we have little or no time for the things of God.

I think you get my drift. We are in this world but not of it. If we want to please God, He must be our consuming passion.

Pastor Frank King is pastor of the English-speaking congregation at the Hinesville Korean Full Gospel Church on Tupelo Trail.