Obviously

Obviously

“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.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭1:10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Paul comes of the gate in his letter to the Galatians with a strong statement about people pleasing. While some men infiltrated the church with a false gospel Paul wants them to be sure of his stance in the truth. He wants the church to see that people pleasing is not the Gospel. He will pay the price of people being mad at him to stand unashamedly for the truth. He puts his reputation on the line to protect the reputation of Christ.

What’s so obvious about Paul not trying to win the approval of others?

• He is calling out men who twist the truth to make people feel comfortable
• He throws down a curse on anyone who teaches a different Gospel then the one he taught
• He doesn’t step back from the full truth no matter who you are (see his confrontation to Peter in Ch. 2)
• He keeps his goals in mind

Ironically when we are people pleasers it’s pretty obvious to those around us. We lose credit and we are constantly miserable. It’s also obvious that people pleasers have their priorities out of whack. God can easily take a back seat to people in our hearts which becomes a never ending black hole of doing anything you can to keep your good standing in the eyes of others. Miserable!

People pleasing is a never ending black hole which only leads to misery.

It’s such a hard thing to want to please people and please God at the same time and a natural inclination. One will always rise above. Guess which one is the better choice? God! Obviously!