Just One More Thing: Whose Approval Are You Chasing?

Yesterday in my sermon, I touched on the idea of how foolish it is to go through life trying to please people.  I didn't get to everything I wanted to say, so just like Columbo, I'm going to go back to it for "just one more thing."  

I have spent way too many hours of my life worrying about what other people think. I've spent hours rewriting text messages so they'd sound "just right." I've laughed at jokes that weren't funny.  There have been many times in my life when I’ve remained silent because I didn’t want to be the fly in the ointment.

Trying to please people feels harmless. It feels polite, even. We want to get along, and sometimes that means we go along.  But trying to please people can be sneaky, because for the sake of peace, we sometimes let things go we shouldn’t.  We don’t tell somebody the truth when we’re asked because we don’t want to hurt their feelings.  We don’t address a concern that needs to be addressed because we don’t want to make anybody look bad.  And we wind up in a place where we aren’t being honest with ourselves, and we’re not being honest with other people. 

The apostle Paul saw this danger clearly, and he addressed it head-on in Galatians 1:10. Here's what he wrote:  "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." 

Notice Paul gives us a clear choice here.  You don't get to choose depending on the situation. You are either aiming your life at pleasing people, or you are aiming your life at pleasing God. Paul doesn't frame this up like there's a choice. Because there isn't. It's one or the other.  Now, some of you might think, "Come on, I can do both things. I can please God and still be liked by everybody." Sure, sometimes those two things line up beautifully. But sooner or later, they will collide.

I deal with this a lot as a pastor. Everybody has a different idea about what a pastor’s role is, and what a pastor should be doing all the time.  And when I first became a pastor, I tried listening to all of these different voices.  As a result I was split in a dozen different directions trying to serve all these different ideas about what a pastor’s priorities should be.  And I nearly ran myself right into the ground.  And you know what?  Even after all that effort, I still had people who weren’t pleased with me.

And all that stress, and all that confusion, and all that running around in circles went away when I asked a few very simple questions.  “Why did God put me here?  What did He give me to work with?  And how will I use what God has given me?” It's that simple.

It’ll work the same way for you.  If your sense of worth, your decisions, even your convictions are built on "what will people think," you're building your house on shifting sand. Paul knew this trap well. Before he met Christ, he was the poster child for pleasing the religious crowd — zealous, applauded, respected. But all that human approval led him down the wrong path. Paul understood better than anyone that chasing people's approval can lead you dangerously far from where God wants you to be.

So here's your simple takeaway for today: before you make your next decision — big or small — ask yourself Paul's question. Am I doing this to please people, or to please God? It's a quick gut-check, but it will save you a lot of grief. 

~Pastor Todd Creason