Today’s Bible readings are 1 Kings 2:1-3:2, Acts 5:1-42, Psalm 125:1-5, & Proverbs 16:25
Acts 5:29-32
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God
rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors
raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God
exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring
Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are
witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to
those who obey him.”
Who are you more concerned about pleasing. Man or God? Have
you ever heard the phrase: people-pleaser?
This is what a person is called when they spend all of the energy & focus
trying to please others. They are so insecure with themselves that they think
they have to please everybody all the time in order to have worth of any type.
The problem with this is that it is impossible to please people all the time.
Proverbs 27:20
20 Just as Death and
Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never
satisfied.
I hope that you remember this one thing—the flesh is never
satisfied. No matter how hard we try to please people, we will never be able to
fully satisfy them at all times. We fall into a trap of satan when we think
that it is our responsibility to please people. This will wear you out &
strangle the life out of you. Not to mention, that it is never going to be
done.
I want to take a moment to clarify a couple of things at
this point. First, we still have an obligation to our spouses. It is clear
through the scriptures that we are to strive to please our mates.
1 Corinthians 7:33-35
33 But a married man has to think about his earthly
responsibilities and how to please his wife. 34 His interests are divided. In the
same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be
devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has
to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband.
35 I am saying this for your benefit, not
to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the
Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.
We do have an obligation to our spouses. It brings great joy
to serve one another out of genuine desire. The Same can be true in other
areas. We are called to serve, BUT WE ARE NOT CALLED TO BE MAN PLEASERS—WE ARE
CALLED TO BE GOD PLEASERS!!!
Sometimes we can put so much focus on making people happy
that we compromise our faith. We can spend so much energy on pleasing people
that we forget that God must be our center. I have had times in my life in the
ministry were in order to do what certain people wanted of me I would have to
NOT DO what God was leading me to do. This can really become a burden if we let
it.
The enemy will do whatever necessary to keep us apart from
God’s will. If he sees that you have a weakness in saying no to people, he will
use it to manipulate you to say no to God. If he realizes that he can get you
distracted by pleasing people he will. If he can use people to discourage you,
he will.
Peter gave the perfect position that we all must take. He
said that his primary role was to please God. He was not in rebellion to
authority. He was, rather, submitted to his Supreme Authority in heaven. Let us
learn for this & make sure that we are God pleasers & not man pleasers.
This is the kind of life that leads to satisfaction & peace.
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