Gorgeous male peacocks always make me think of pride. I believe some of them think they are "it." Pride is spoken of as an abomination, one of the 7 things that God hates (Proverbs 6:16-19). Chuck Smith mentions all 7 of them in his sermon found below, so I will not list them here. Besides, I wanted to concentrate now on the things that please God.
First, we need to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, and have a heartfelt, sincere repentance and the willingness to surrender our lives to Jesus and to live for Him and to do His will, not our will. Having faith in God and Jesus pleases God. Hebrews 11:6 tells us , "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone that comes to Him must believe that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."
Next, we need to make sure that we are walking in the Holy Spirit. Once you repent and surrender to Jesus, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit if you were sincere. So we need to be spiritually minded and not carnal, not with desires of the flesh and worldly tendencies. Romans 8:6-8 tells us, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. " To mature in the faith takes time and much prayer and much time spent in God's Word. One needs to develop a close, intimate, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Also, we need to obey God. Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." - John 14:15. As your relationship with the Lord grows, so will your love for Him. God"s commands are beneficial, and if we obey them, we will grow spiritually and be more Christ-like. Your character will become more holy, more righteous. Jesus said He always did what pleased God the Father (John 8:29). As followers of Christ, we need to endeavor to always please God as well.
We need to have a healthy, reverent fear of God. He is the all-powerful Creator of the universe; He created us as well, of course, and we should be in awe of His majesty and sovereignty. Proper fear and honor of God will help us to avoid sin (Exodus 20:20).
The Bible was given to us to help us know what God's will is. If we read it daily, God will reveal to us His will in all areas. Jesus set the grand example of doing God's will when He went to the cross and shed His blood for us, so we that believe in Him may have eternal life. Jesus did His Father's will; He was totally committed to God and showed His love by His obedience. We need to seek God's help to always do His will and thereby be true followers of Jesus. If we obey the two great commandments at Mark 12:29-31, we definitely please God : "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
Love is the key to pleasing God, for God is love (1 John 4:16). If we love the Lord, we will want to please Him. As Chuck Smith says in his sermon below, "Pleasing God is the purpose of our existence."
"And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." - 1 John 3:22
