by Pleasing to whom you may ask? Please others? Please family? Please friends? What about God? Is your life and actions pleasing to God? Or not?
Galatians 1:10 “…do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
I have heard it said, “Do ‘such and such’ and people will love you. Put on that ‘kind of show’ in your life and you will be loved by men.” Over the years, many have told my family how to dress, what kind of music to play, what songs to sing, my husband how to preach, and the list could go on and on. All the advice was provided so our family would be pleasing to the multitudes. For those who know us well, we have never followed man’s advice when it was contrary to the Word of God. So, we have not been pleasing to some men; but you know what? That is okay. We have tried to be pleasing to the Lord.
We women worry sometimes and over the years, these comments would bother me. I would think, “Maybe I could sing more, even though my voice isn’t the best. Maybe I could dress fancier, wear more makeup, and look like I stepped out of a magazine. Maybe I could sew matching clothes for my girls. What can I say, when others are around, so my husband looks good?” I used to sincerely worry if I’ve always done my best to be pleasing to those around me, until recently. God showed me in his Word how we are not to be pleasing to men; because if we are pleasing men, then we are not serving the Lord.
Galatians 1:10 “…do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
I was so thrilled when I saw this verse. All my worry, on this topic, disappeared. I pondered this verse quite a bit.
- Sometimes, we can achieve both. We can please God and men. When this happens, then the men we are pleasing (as a result of pleasing God first) are probably also striving to please God themselves. For example, if we show up to visitation, we are pleasing God first because we are obeying his command to tell others about him. Second, we are pleasing the Pastor of the church when he sees us come to visitation. Notice, we must be pleasing to God first. How wonderful it is when both God and our fellow friends are pleased. Colossians 1:10 “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
- However, when we are hit with a cross-road in life and one way pleases men; but the other pleases God – take the path that pleases God. For example, a family reunion is planned during church service. Hebrews 10:25 says “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…” So, do we please men or God? Joshua put it this way in Joshua 24:15“…choose you this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
When we please God first in our lives, we may aggravate our family and have fewer friends; but remember, life is a vapor and then it is gone. Only what is done for the Lord will last.
James 4:14 “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
I Corinthians 3:13 “…and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”
A vapor is quickly gone. Take a hot skillet and drop one drop of water in it and watch it vanish as a poof of vapor while you blink. One blink and it is gone. Sometimes, we get extremely focused in our life and in pleasing others. We tend to forget in the whole realm of God’s eternal life – our life is a vapor and it is gone in the blink of an eye.
So, what can we do that is pleasing to the Lord?
- Have faith in him and his guidance in your life. He knows what is best for you even if you do not agree with him. Have faith in him.
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him…”
- Live in the Spirit. Allow him to direct your path in life. Do not follow the flesh. So, when people were telling us what to do to please other men, we ignored them and followed God to please him.
Romans 8:5 “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”
Romans 8:8 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Proverbs 3:6 “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
- Also, when children are obedient, this pleases the parents. If you are a child of God, be obedient to your Heavenly Father. This will also be well pleasing to the Lord.
Colossians 3:20 “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.”
I saw this concluding verse the other day and thought, “What a wonderful thing it would be in my death that I could have the same testimony as Enoch.”
Hebrews 11:5 “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death…for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”
Notice God didn’t say “Enoch pleased men” but “that he pleased God.” In this new year, let’s not worry about a “show” to please men but let’s be pleasing to God.
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Good resolution for this year!
I had not thought of it that way but you are correct, it does make a good resolution for every year. Thanks for thinking of that.