Deny Yourself (Mark 8:34)

If you are going to follow Jesus, you will need to deny yourself.  The disciples did not yet know that Christ would be crucified, so the cross would not hold the significance that we may want to put on it.  However, it does indicate a willingness to continue to deny yourself wherever Jesus leads as you follow.

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  Mark 8:34

Through the epistles we will learn that to follow Jesus is a decision to renounce or deny your life, to recognize that you are dead in Christ and to allow him to live his will (leading) through you. 

Pleasing to God (Colossians 3:20)

The scriptures inform us that the action of children obeying their parents is well pleasing to the Lord.

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. (Colossians 3:20)

It does not say that children who obey their parents are well pleasing to the Lord, but that obeying parents is pleasing to him.  As a child of God which positionally puts you in Christ, God is always pleased with you.  However, there may be things that you do that may be displeasing to the him.

This can be difficult for some to understand.  They are locked into the thought that if a person does something that is displeasing to the Lord, then the Lord must also be displeased with them.

What we must understand is that God does not exist in linear time.  This means that God is not stuck in time like you and me only moving forward from one day to the next.   Time does not affect him: he can see from the beginning to the end and from the end to the beginning.

My children, as all children, have done things that are pleasing to me and also displeasing.  Some of these actions were faults and others we sins.  However when I look at them and assess whether or not I am pleased with them, I am able to see and recall much of their past and even with their faults and sins, I can still truly be pleased with them.

God looks at us from eternity future.  The complete workings of salvation have been accomplished and from that standpoint as he looks at you in today's time, you are pleasing to him.  You are pleasing to God because of Christ and whenever he sees you, he sees you in Christ.  The actions you do may be displeasing, but you are still pleasing to him.  If you remain in disobedience and continue to act in ways that displease the Lord, he may chasten you.  He will do this because he takes pleasure in you, and he cannot allow you to ruin your life.

Remember, your relationship with God is completely based on the works of Christ.  There is nothing that you can do that will make you any more or less acceptable to him.