Feb 21, 2014

Who are we trying to please?

by Seth Osborn

 

Question time! Who of you loves God? I hope most of you are raising your hands. Okay, you can put them down.

Now for the next one: How many of you live completely and utterly for God, regardless of whatever situation you might happen to be in? Oof. There are a lot fewer hands up for that one. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure I see any at all.

Human nature makes us selfish, which makes it hard to live entirely for a purpose that doesn’t suit us. To be quite honest, God’s will won’t always match up with ours. He might want us to be leaders when the very thought of that makes us tremble. He could ask us to go on a missions trip to another country when some days we have trouble just leaving our home.

And His challenges aren’t always of biblical proportions, either. It could be something as simple as Him wanting a timid person to stand up for their beliefs when challenged by their peers.

Overcoming our inhibitions and accepting God’s challenges is a big step. To do this, we need to stop caring about what the other people of the world think about us. In Galatians 1:10, Paul writes, “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.”

If we want to truly follow God, we can’t let ourselves allow others’ perceptions of us interfere with what He wants us to do. If we are doing God’s work, let it be done as He wills it.

Romans 12:2 is our next destination. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” This verse reinforces that we shouldn’t be worrying about what people think about us.

 

We shouldn’t be trying to conform to their way of doing things. By doing so, we lose sight of God’s will. Only when we separate ourselves from thinking about what the world wants can we discern how we can help further God’s plans for us. Otherwise we’ll just end up stunting our spiritual growth.

If we look at Matthew 6:31-33, we can find even more insight into living for God. “So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Not only should we not worry about how others will think about us, but we also shouldn’t concern ourselves with making sure we have what we need to the point where it distracts us from God.

I know I’m not the only “worrywart” out there. It can be easy to get caught up in the stressful things that surround us here on earth, like getting good grades in order to go to college and then get a job so you can have money to buy the things you need like food, drink, clothes, and shelter.

But that’s not what the Bible tells us to do. If we live for God before everything else, we shouldn’t worry about those things. God will provide us with what we need.

So make sure God comes first and foremost in your life, and the other things you need will fall into place after that. Secular people may think you’re a freak and that you’re going too far, but you shouldn’t lose sleep over that. Which would you rather put more effort into: pleasing people you’ll spend less than a century with, or doing work for the One you’ll be with for eternity?