I hate letting people down and disappointing them. It really bothers me to have to tell people, ‘No,’ if I know it is going to be difficult for them to hear. I don’t consider myself a ‘people pleaser,’ but I guess I do like pleasing people.

I also hate it when I let somebody down. There have been times in which I committed to something, and failed to follow through on time. I’d rather run and hide than face the one I’ve obligated myself, and confess my shortcoming.

I remember many years ago when I was new in the ministry. One of my responsibilities was to oversee the facilities. After church one Sunday, someone mentioned there was a light out over the platform. I thanked them and told them I would see that it was replaced during the week. That week came and went and I forgot about the light. The following Sunday that person asked me why the light was still out, to which I said I had forgotten all about it. I pledged to take care of it ASAP, and that was the last time I thought about it.

One more week passed, and during the service I happened to notice the light, and my stomach sunk. I knew I had failed, and I knew I was about to be rightfully humbled. Gratefully, it was replaced by the next Sunday. Sadly, I had lost much credibility with that church member, and it would take many years to win it back.

No, I don’t consider myself a ‘people pleaser,’ but it is critical that both as a pastor, and as a member of the church family that I seek to please people. Christ went around daily looking for people He could serve. In so doing, He was certainly pleasing them. However, pleasing people was not His primary concern. He came to do the will of His Father. Pleasing Him far outweighed His commitment to people.

Paul taught something like that in his epistle to the Galatians. He wrote in…

Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

The Lord did not come directly to please men, He came to please His Father. The will of His Father was for Jesus to give His life to pay for the sins of man. Such a sacrificial gift was certainly an act to please people, for in so doing, He was providing for man an escape from Hell’s punishment, and an eternity with Him in glory. In a way, that would be the epitome of pleasing people.

Here is the concern here. There are so many times in our lives when we are faced with conflicting pulls between pleasing men, and pleasing God.
Paul reminded us that we are no longer our own, we must spend our lives pleasing God.

In what way will you be pleasing God today?