Some would say obedience. Others would say believing.  Yet others would imply that doing one’s best while falling back on His grace is the way to do it.  The responses to such a question would be many and very diverse, I am sure.

But when I survey the bigger picture, I can’t help but see something that stands out to me, unlike any other idea afloat on this subject.

I think it is best conveyed by what Jesus spoke in John 15 and in John 17

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.  24  “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

What I see when I read such passages is a yearning for a close, intimate relationship on the part of the Father and Jesus with those who would humbly receive it and rejoice in it.

Jesus was willing to lay down His life for it, and the Father was willing to give His only beloved Son for it.  It is why such an elaborate and costly sacrifice was made.

An eternal oneness and unity suffered a moment of separation to obtain this relationship and oneness with those who will believe it and receive it.  It was not done to create robots who do what is asked of them for fear of being judged and severely punished.  It was done for the beauty of relationship and oneness with God.

God is most pleased when we are most satisfied with knowing Him and enjoying the privilege of being in right relationship with Him by grace through faith in Jesus.  God is pleased when we take full advantage of what has been provided to us through Christ.

God is most pleased when we walk in the fellowship made possible by faith and let go of striving from a place of having confidence in our flesh to do certain things to merit His affection and pleasure.

Jesus had fellowship with the Father, and the result was that He did what He saw His Father doing and spoke what He heard His Father speaking. Jesus’s actions flowed out of His fellowship with the Father.  Unity of relationship produced the fruit in Jesus’ life and ministry.  Jesus did not go around worried about whether or not He was doing what He needed to in order to be close with His Father.

God was pleased with Jesus’s close relationship. That is why He said audibly at the Jordan when Jesus was baptized, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus had done nothing yet except fellowship with His Father.

I believe God is most pleased whenever we take advantage of what Jesus did for us to bring us into fellowship with the Father simply because we see the privilege of it and desire to get to know the Father.