For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God. (Heb. 11:5–6)
Expanded Passage: Hebrews 11:5-12
My wife’s grandfather, Jerry, was a great man. He raised his family in the church and worked hard to provide for them. Due to some hard life circumstances, my mother-in-law moved back in with her parents when my wife was five years old. For nearly ten years Jerry was the primary male figure in my wife’s life. For the rest of her life, my wife viewed her grandfather as the best father figure she knew. I was lucky enough to know Grandpa Jerry for seven years. At the age of eighty-one, he passed away in his sleep. It seemed like a kind reward for a man who spent his life seeking to please God.
Enoch was commended as one who pleased God and he “was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death.” If we, like Enoch, want to please God, what do we need to do? The author of Hebrews tells us that we must live by faith. This does not mean, like Noah, that we have to build an ark without seeing any rain clouds or, like Sarah, expect to have a baby well beyond our child-bearing years. Instead, it means living day by day in faithful obedience to God.
I want to live like Enoch, Noah, Sarah, and Jerry—people who pleased God. That starts with faith.
Take each step by faith to please God.
Aaron Wilkinson is an ordained minister in The Wesleyan Church and Chair of the Department of Business and Economics at Huntington University.
© 2026 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
