"Without faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely [and earnestly] seek him. It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. All these [heroes of faith] died still believing what God had promised them. They saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. The world was not worthy of them" (Sections of Hebrews 11).

What pleases God? The aroma of sacrifice: "a sacrifice if praise" (Heb 13:15-16); imitating God in living a life of love "just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Gen 8:21; Ep 5:2); the spiritual act of worship which is offering our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1); godly words and thoughts (Ps 19:14); serving Christ in "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17-18).

Here in Hebrews 11 the focus is on faith. It is impossible to please God without it. And the object of faith is God himself. If we want to please Him we must believe that He exists. Absolutely fundamental. Surely it goes without saying? So why is it said? I think it is because God is a person not a power. Belief in Him is belief in the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the closest and purest of loving relationship. God is not simply a force, or right as opposed to wrong; good as opposed to evil; light as opposed to darkness. His very nature is love and he has set his love on the sons and daughters of human beings. Whoever calls on his name will be saved. Each individual is of immense worth to him and he longs to father them. "Long lay the world in sin and darkness pining till he appeared and the soul felt its worth."

But it is also impossible to please God without believing that he rewards those who sincerely and earnestly seek him. We please him when we trust in his promises and thus in his perfect character; that he does not lie, but always keeps his word. Self-pity and having a victim mentality, which to my shame I detect in myself, weakens our confidence in his promises and cannot please him as much as unshakeable trust. He loves it when we confidently look forward to being in the city that has eternal foundations and that has been designed and built for us by God himself. He says of those with such rock-solid assurance "the world is not worthy of them".