Who Are We to Please?

“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Galatians 1:10

You no doubt have heard said, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” There seems to be some question as to who is responsible for this particular saying or whether it is an adaptation from another similar quote that uses the word “fool” instead of “please”. Regardless of their origin these words ring of truth. In my line of work – this can really be a tough issue. I’d had a conversation with someone who what complaining in a way that we (referring to myself and the others that I work with) – couldn’t please everyone. Something to which I heartily agree. I asked the person I was speaking to this question – knowing the answer I was hoping to hear – If we can’t please all of the people, who are we supposed to please? That person didn’t have an answer and that made my heart hurt.

You see as followers of Christ; our first priority should be to please God. That is the point Paul is trying to make in the passage above. Let’s back up and get this into some perspective. Paul had written to the church in Galatia in order to address some issues the church was having with false teachers. Paul opens his letter with one of his wonderful greetings but then gets right down to giving this group of believers the what for about their behavior. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is not gospel...” (Galatian 1:6-7). Paul goes so far as to say that those responsible for interfering with the gospel of Jesus should be eternally condemned for trying to tell the gentile believers that they needed to follow Jewish law in order to really be saved. No doubt Paul’s comments didn’t win him any popularity contests, except perhaps by the few who had recognized what was going on and hadn’t fallen for it.

Paul is essentially saying in the passage above that all Christians and especially those who have been called into leadership positions by God need to focus on pleasing God, not men. That was the answer I was looking for when I asked who are we supposed to please.

If as followers of Christ, people who call ourselves by His name, we chose to please God first - with our whole lives what would that look like? Would our judgmental attitudes fade away? Would our desire to be pleased and to have things “our” way change? Would our gathering together as the people of God be less about how we think that should look or sound and more about getting to God’s heart and having God’s heart? Would we balance truth and grace instead of being all truth or all grace in our dealing with our follow believers and the non-believers in our lives?

We can try to please some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time knowing full well we will never make everyone happy and that trying to will break our own spirits or we can make the daily choice to please God first and watch as He takes us and those around us on an amazing journey into His heart as He changes ours.

A Prayer
Father – we can be so hard headed and stiff necked sometimes, forgive us for seeking to please ourselves and others before we think to please you. Show us Lord how to please you in our everyday lives. Lord give those You have called to lead on your behalf to have hearts that desire to please you before they please the people You have given them to shepherd. Be the strength, courage and wisdom all of us need to stand against those who want things their way instead of Your way. Thank you for who YOU are, draw us to you. Thank you that Your Son modeled pleasing You over pleasing Himself and by so doing made a way for all who believe to be restored. In the name of Jesus, who showed us how to please the Father – Amen.