“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10
What is a people pleaser?
A people pleaser in my own words and from experience, and weakness of mine, is someone with an intense need to do all they can to be loved, seen, heard, wanted, and be in every circle. That sounds indeed insane to me, but unfortunately it is how I have lived most of my life.
Growing up, I didn’t really have a group of friends that I did life with, have fun with, I was kind of a loner, so I turned into a mean loner, and even had a faze where I would use my lunch money to get things out of the vending machine to give them to guys at school to get their attention or whatever I was thinking those days. Which obviously did not work. But, I would go the extra mile in the unhealthy way to receive something that it just was not for me in that moment. I truly believe the Lord gives you your tribe. And we just have to trust him with that. A tribe that you don’t have to mask up to be accepted by them, but you purely who you were formed and created to be by the Creator.
As we read Galatians 1:10 let’s read a few verses before that, to get the context.
lets start at verse 6:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel — not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man, I would not be a Servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:6-10
Let’s get this point out of the way, when our identity rests secure in Christ, we will be able to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Christ, how he came to save us from our sin and grave, and give us hope and eternal life.
We see Paul saddened by the people. He has given so much of himself to them, but they are choosing to listen to others that are talking about the Gospel in such a way where it is not fully true, trying to still abide by the word but trying to draw a crowd to them and not leading people to Christ. These people are the people pleasers, they are not secure in their identity in Christ, they don’t know the fullness of Christ for themselves so they will give others half truths and leave people still not putting their full lives to the Lord just part of their life. (DOES THAT MAKE SENSE)
We all have been there, maybe. For me, sometimes I don’t say anything even though I know the truth of the Gospel and I should be saying but to keep the peace I stay silent… but is that really peace? It just shows my insecurity, and my lack of trust of the Lord, that He’s got me and strengthening me to speak the truth, not so I get more likes or friends, but that he would be praised and heaven would become more and more crowded. There is no peace in staying silent when it comes to saying the truth. Peace comes when we speak the Gospel in its entirety. This verse gets me every time:
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.” Ezekiel 3:17-21
People’s souls are at stake and I am worried about not being liked?
PRETTY MUCH, REST IN YOUR IDENTITY AS SON AND DAUGHTER IN CHRIST, REMEMBER WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR YOU WHERE YOU WERE BEFORE YOU CAME INTO FULL BELIEF OF HIS LOVE FOR YOU BECAUSE IF WE REMAIN TO WALK IN PEOPLE PLEASING MODE AND WANTING TO SAVE OURSELVES FROM HURT AND REJECTION IT WILL KEEP US FROM INCREASING IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST, OUR LOVE FOR HIM, TO SEE HIM USE US TO BRING PEOPLE OUT OF DARKNESS AND INTO MARVELOUS LIGHT. WHY WOULD WE NOT PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE WHAT WE HAVE EXPERIENCED IN HIM?
Y’all to be a servant of Christ we must daily surrender our need to be understood, when what is enough is that Christ understands us and has walked through all our same emotions, yet remained unfazed, unmoved by people’s emotions, unfazed by their reactions to the truth only he could speak, he was unfazed and it is how we as believers should walk. He was confident in who he was as a Son, he knew what His call and purpose here on earth was, and he did not sway from doing it. he trusted his Father, spent time with His Father and was strengthened by angels to continue to endure with joy knowing the hope that was set before us.
Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”
Abiding in His word and remebering what He has done is what keeps us from falling into people pleasing, and remembering that someone went out of their way to tell me the truth even if it meant i would be upset with them or even reject them, yet here i am because of their knowing what Christ has done for them and wanting the same for me.
it is a privilege to endure. because He endured for our sake.
Let’s face it if Jesus was a people pleaser, would he have died for us? would he have endured all the shame, all the trash talk, being betrayed? If you knew you would be talked bad about, betrayed by those closest to you, left alone, would you still speak the truth of the Gospel to the people the Lord sends you too, or would you stay silent out of fear?
If you have said, “I believe Lord.” We can rest secure in our identity in Christ and trust that even if everyone hates us, and leaves us, GOD DOES NOT. With Him, we have everything we need. There is nothing else this world can give us that He has already given us, in Him we are secure, in Him we are loved, and seen, accepted and being awaited for by Him in His Eternal Kingdom!
May we not allow anything or anyone keep us from resting securely in Him and may we continue to swiftly obey Him no matter what because we know how he swiftly obeyed for our sakes.
WE WANT TO PLEASE YOU AND NO ONE ELSE! ❤
“Go be a spark of influence, and may we together ignite the world.“
Cafe Enciende 
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