April 5, 2019

Please God

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.

– Galatians 1:10

Have you ever tried desperately to please someone, only to have your efforts thrown back in your face? Yeah. Me too. People are fickle and the hard truth is that the more you try, the more you will fail.

The expectations of others demand a perfection that we simply can’t achieve. It’s unrealistic to expect that of ourselves. We aren’t God. We can’t meet the needs of someone else all the time. And you know what? God doesn’t expect us to.

Our lives are meant to bring glory to God. We can only do that when what we say and do draws others toward Him, not us. When we are trying to be everything for someone else, we are drawing them to ourselves. And we will fail them, either because their demands are unrealistic or forever changing or because we simply don’t have the resources to satisfy them. God is the only One who can completely fulfill all we need and desire.

There are so many words for this. Co-dependency or enabler come immediately to mind. Don’t let yourself be pulled into a hole that will destroy your self-esteem and leave you battered and ashamed. Don’t let others attempt to control you through guilt or nasty words.

We are called to please God. Period. That means that people are going to sometimes be upset with us for not following their plans and meeting their demands. Let it go. God has an amazing way of filling us up when we hand Him our brokenness. And who knows? Maybe walking away will cause them to seek God instead of you.