Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT)
“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
People pleasing is at an epidemic level, and it has been for a long while. Many of us place tremendous pressure on ourselves because we try to live up to other people’s standards. We allow the opinions of others to determine how we should live and feel, and this can make us miserable and insecure. Striving to satisfy their expectations, we sometimes forget about who God has made us and the call that He has placed upon our lives. We begin to care way too much about what others say is the right way to go. We want to meet and marry the man they think we should be with, and we want to look and dress the way they think we should look and dress. When hearing “I approve” from others becomes too much of our focus, we can lose sight of the faith and love we should have for God. It’s His approval that should mean everything to us, and we should rest in His approval all the time.
Through Adam and Eve, our Heavenly Father makes it very clear that He didn’t make us all the same. We have differences, and when we come into relationships with others, it’s the differences that often compliment and make the unions stronger. God made us unique individuals. We each have distinct skills, talents, and abilities to carry out His purpose, and none of these are less important than the others. 1 Peter 4:10-11(NLT) says, “10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.” Everything we do according to God’s plan and purpose for our lives brings Him glory. We don’t have to do things the same way as others, we simply must desire to please God with our whole heart and seek to do it.
We can get ourselves in such a state that all we do is condemn our efforts. We become a slave to hearing praise and approvals from others, and if we don’t receive it, we put ourselves down. People pleasing is rampant in our society, and it is not limited to certain ages or genders. It can become an addiction, and sometimes it gets to this level because we’ve been rejected, hurt badly, or abused in our pasts. Our minds trick us into believing that always pleasing others will relieve some of the pain we feel, but this isn’t true. We need to shift the source of our comfort from people who let us down to our Heavenly Father who never lets us down. He never fails or disappoints. He is the Lifter of our heads and the Healer of our broken hearts.
God commands us to follow the example of Jesus Christ, and our blessed Savior and Redeemer was never concerned about pleasing people. He knew who he was, and he knew what he came to the earth to do. He said in John 6:38(NLT), “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.” This was the heart and mindset of our Lord and Savior when he walked upon this earth, and this must be our heart and mindset as well. Pleasing the Lord is a full-time occupation, 24/7. We don’t have time to focus on pleasing others, because this can lead us astray. Romans 8:5(NLT) tells us, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.” Our goal every day should be to make God’s business our business, regardless of what other people think or say.
The Apostle Paul had the heart and mind that God expects each of us to have. He said in Galatians 1:10(NLT), “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.” We can’t put any person on a pedestal, because no other except Christ belongs there. People make mistakes, lots of them, and they are no different than any of us. So, we can’t make pleasing people a habit if pleasing God is our goal. Stay your mind on Him and live each day by His Word, because only our Heavenly Father deserves our all. Even when we make mistakes, He still loves and forgives us. He has stamped us “Approved!” because we accepted Jesus Christ and made him the head of our lives. Have confidence that you don’t need to be anyone other than who God has made you to be. You are enough in Christ to be His child, and nothing else in all eternity matters more than this.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Don’t Let Anyone Dim Your Light”, written by KLizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.