Galatians 1:10(NLT)
Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.
Serving God when it goes against the traditions of our friends and family is hard. Paul realize that seeking his family, friends and community’s approval by following their traditions would never give him salvation or a right relationship with God, that is why he boldly declared if pleasing people were his goal, he would not be Christ’s servant. Scriptures also admonish Christians in general and those in position of authority in particular to reject the temptation of becoming pleasers of men. 1 Thessalonians 2:4 says “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” God’s expectation concerning our service on earth is to serve Him and not man. He expects us to render excellent service and to serve without hypocrisy. The desire to please men rather than God is very hypocritical service.
We see in today’s world that many people including Christians rather want to please man instead of God. Pleasing people involves making every effort to do whatever they want in order to win their approval, even when such actions are contrary to God’s commandments. When you choose please man more than God you begin to work against God’s purpose thereby becoming an enemy of God. King Saul(1 Samuel 15) and Herod(Acts 12:20-24) are prime examples. Pleasing people requires eye service, insincerity and self-centeredness. The Bible says in Ephesians 6:6 “Not with eyeservice, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;” Eyeservice is unacceptable to God! If you love the praise of men more than the approval of God, you do not yet know what it is to serve the Lord. The truth is, work or service rendered with eyeservice will definitely miss Heaven’s mark, and runs the risk of losing Heaven’s rewards. Colossians 3:22 makes us to understand that our service should be backed by the fear of God. If you truly love and fear God, you will serve Him and do whatever He asks you to do, whether your superiors are there or not. In your stand to please God you will attract different kinds of enemies but don’t let that deter you from doing the right thing.
Beloved, do not struggle for human approval but for Divine approval for it is not how you appear before people that matters, but how you appear before God. Invest your time and energy to find out what God thinks about you. Stop destroying people who will not please you because they have decided in their heart to serve God with all their heart and do what He says to them to do. If you have any reporting to do, take it to God and stop wasting your time destroying others. Serve God and please Him alone. Today, if you still see traces of eye service in your life, repent and turn a new leaf.
O LORD, deliver me from pleasing people and inspire me to serve you truly in Jesus’ Name.