#377 – God Pleasers

Good morning God pleasers

Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of God.

What’s our greatest focus in life; living to please people or living to please God? The reality is often we fall into the trap of living to please people. I know I do and it’s never healthy.

Let me clarify. I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t care about the impact of our lives on others; of course we should. But many times when I am trying to please others it’s because I want to feel good. Sure in the moment I wouldn’t say that (and I don’t) but upon honest reflection, that’s the truth.

One of the other issues of living to please people means that we compromise our convictions to gain approval from others. Many groups have a code of conduct (often unspoken) and to be accepted, to not look strange or feel uncomfortable, we often sacrifice our standards for the sake of pleasing people in order to fit in. The Bible tells us this ‘fear of man will prove to be a snare’.

So what is the Bible’s focus on our connection with others? Well I think the greatest thing is God’s focus on loving people rather than pleasing them. Love gives at the expense of self and sometimes this means even displeasing people. For example, as a parent because I love my daughters I will discipline them and in that moment, they are not exactly saying “Gee dad, thanks for that; I like you even more now!”

I pray our focus today is on living to please God. We do this by focusing on our relationship with Him, by allowing our character to become more like His and watch it