Pleasing God

Gospel JN 8:21-30

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”
He said to them, “You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world.”
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me. 
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him.”
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

How often do I find myself complaining to God, ungrateful for all that He has done for me?  That's where we find the Israelites in the first reading (not shown).  In today's gospel reading, Jesus states that the Pharisees will die in their sin.  Perhaps they were complaining and ungrateful?  Can I remember those times when I was complaining and ungrateful?  Seeing this sin for what it is and seeing Jesus for Who He Is can release me from the death grip of sin.  Jesus says that He does what is pleasing to Him (God).  Dear Lord, help me to be like Jesus and do what is pleasing to you.