Are You Living to Please Others or the Lord? - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) February 6, 2024
Updated: Aug 6
We live in a world where the need to be liked and approved by others is incessant. Some are focused on how many likes they receive on their comments and pictures. It seems normal to do whatever it takes to get attention and be accepted by others. This desire is not a new phenomenon and didn't just begin in the age of social media. It has been a part of human psychology for a very long time.
It even created problems among some of the early disciples. For instance, the Lord used Apostle Peter at Cornelius's house to teach that even Gentiles could be part of the church. Yet, he eventually stopped fraternizing with them. Galatians 2 tells us this was because he succumbed to peer pressure from Christian Jews who wanted to hold on to the old way of thinking - that uncircumcised Gentiles were unclean and thus should not be among them. Peter's choice to agree with that group of believers caused Apostle Paul to chastise him publicly. Why did Peter ignore what the Lord had taught him? One could argue that the need to be liked by others played a role.
This highlights a question that today's believers must address: Who are you living to please? Are you focused on receiving approval from people or the Lord?
In Galatians 1:10, Apostle Paul wrote, "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Paul knew he couldn't appease human beings and remain a true servant of Jesus Christ. This must have been hard to do because people are social beings but he nevertheless stuck to his principles. He understood that his focus had to be on God and not on man. Similarly, James 4:4 warns that "friendship with the world means enmity against God." And as Christians, we can't ignore these scriptures because they speak directly to our relationship with God. After all, both James, the brother of Jesus, and Paul believed that to be servants of the Lord He must be the priority.
We therefore must be more concerned with how God sees us than how the world sees us. We must live our lives seeking to please Him and not be acceptable to people. This can be very difficult in our world where we are encouraged to put our principles to the side to be accepted by others.
Still, we must remember when God will help us once we commit. When He is the priority, what is normal for the people of the world will no longer be normal. Checking the news or social media won't be the first thing we do in the morning, for instance. Opening the Bible and praying will become the better alternative. Using foul language and listening to such will no longer feel appropriate. Rather than arguing and fighting, walking away from tense situations becomes the norm.
The choice to please God instead of man may seem hard to put into practice, but the rewards will always be worth it. Paul noted that the choice meant he could serve Christ. James said it meant not being an enemy of God. Are we willing to make the same choice so we can also enjoy these and other benefits? Will we focus on living lives that please people or will we aim to please the Lord?
To learn more on this topic, please read these related messages:
ความคิดเห็น