[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fplease-god":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fplease-god-surround":71},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":15,"columnName":53,"date":54,"description":21,"extension":55,"image":56,"meta":57,"minRead":58,"navigation":59,"path":60,"postType":61,"publication":62,"publicationUrl":56,"seo":63,"stem":64,"topics":65,"__hash__":70},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fplease-god.md","Please God",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11,12,13,14],"Acts","Ephesians","1 Thessalonians","Romans","2 Timothy","John",{"type":16,"value":17,"toc":49},"minimark",[18,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46],[19,20,21],"p",{},"A couple purchased an electric blanket equipped with separate controls for each side of the bed. The first time they used it, the husband felt too warm, so throughout the night he kept turning his dial down. Meanwhile, his wife felt increasingly chilly, so throughout the night she kept turning her dial up. After a terrible night's sleep, they awoke in the morning and realized they had reversed the controls! With each adjustment of the dial, they had only succeeded in making each other more miserable.",[19,23,24],{},"People can be very hard to please, and adjustments hard to make. Thousands of baseball fans yell for the manager to remove the starting pitcher, while others scream to leave him in. Some diners prefer their steak rare, others want it well done, and vegetarians avoid it altogether. Some family members like to stay up late and sleep late; others think you've wasted half the day if you don't rise at the crack of dawn.",[19,26,27],{},"Even in the church, it's hard to find harmony. Usually, where two or three gather together . . . there's a disagreement! Rare is the congregational meeting like the one described in Acts 6:5, where the early church resolved a potentially divisive problem by agreeing to a proposal that \"pleased the whole group.”",[19,29,30],{},"Human ingenuity can't manufacture Christian unity. The Lord simply calls us to keep \"the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace\" (Ephesians 4:3). You can't please everybody, nor should that be the goal. The apostle Paul stated, \"We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts\" (1 Thessalonians 2:4). God's approval matters most, and he is more interested in our integrity than our popularity.",[19,32,33],{},"Yet another biblical principle reminds us, \"We who are strong ought . . . not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up\" (Romans 15:1, 2).",[19,35,36],{},"It pleases God when we put aside self-interest for the greater good of the body of Christ. In practical terms, we need to swallow our pride. Refuse to bad-mouth brothers, slander sisters, and lambaste godly leaders. Learn to give and receive correction with gentleness and respect. Refuse to treat God's children like enemies even when they disagree with us about matters of conscience (like the kind described in Romans 14).",[19,38,39],{},"We must learn to argue (by presenting logical evidence in support of our ideas) instead of quarreling (by attacking people and poisoning relationships). We must carefully preserve \"the pattern of sound teaching\" entrusted to us while remembering that \"the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful\" (2 Timothy 1:13; 2:24).",[19,41,42],{},"The Father in Heaven wants to give us a refreshing spirit of unity among ourselves as we follow Christ (Romans 15:5). He is pleased when we replicate the kind of church where \"all the believers were one in heart and mind,\" shared \"everything they had,\" and then, unhindered by ugly divisions, boldly proclaimed \"the resurrection of the Lord Jesus\" to a dying world (Acts 4:32, 33). Genuine Christian unity—not a phony tolerance forged at the expense of truth, but the real thing—pleases God. It's worth any adjustments we have to make.",[19,44,45],{},"Are we standing in the way of something Jesus prayed to see (John 17:20–23)?",[19,47,48],{},"Unite us, O God. Please.",{"title":50,"searchDepth":51,"depth":51,"links":52},"",2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1999-10-17","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fplease-god","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":21},"articles\u002Fplease-god",[66,67,68,69],"Biblical Theology","Christian Unity","Church Leadership","Discipleship","URbblEnzZf_heQKXxld4zixcOfDjOKcPNJuQ1In55P0",[72,77],{"title":73,"path":74,"stem":75,"description":76,"children":-1},"Playing Favorites","\u002Farticles\u002Fplaying-favorites","articles\u002Fplaying-favorites","Are you a morning person or a late-night person? Do you prefer spending time with groups of friends, or would you rather be alone? Do you have a favorite flavor of ice cream, a favorite sweater, a favorite season of the year—even a favorite coffee mug?",{"title":78,"path":79,"stem":80,"description":81,"children":-1},"Point to the Risen Son","\u002Farticles\u002Fpoint-to-the-risen-son","articles\u002Fpoint-to-the-risen-son","Most cultural shifts don't happen with lightning speed. They're more like slow-moving waters that gradually erode the shore."]