Popularity Issues
“Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant.”
—Galatians 1:10
This says two things to me.
First, that my goal in life is not to please others, and secondly, it is to be Christ’s servant. As a result, a servant of Christ should strive to be more like Him, should let others know Him and should seek only his or her Master’s approval—which is God.
I also read previously this verses:
“We are careful to be honorable before the Lord, but we also want everyone else to know we are honorable.”
—2 Corinthians 8:21
These two verses and others besides do not clash. From this, we are to conduct ourselves in a respectable manner so that those who do not know the Lord will not turn away from Him because of our own foolish actions (another message in itself). This however, has nothing to do with pleasing others when it comes to our profession of Christ in our life; being “honorable” to others by quieting our faith or actions in Christ.
I think we live in a world that suffocates belief systems, no matter how “free” it seems. We live in a land of political correctness that just strangles me with the whimsical pretense of social etiquette and burdens me with the worry of accidentally offending someone with “religious” talk.
I have to admit, I’ve been suffocating my own thoughts and mind lately because of this. I’ve been casting aside who I am, just to keep the water from boiling around me.
It seems that everywhere I go, no matter who I interact with, I seem to cause a disturbance because of who I am in Christ. It might not boil up right away, but it always does. I’ve lost friends because of it, had tension because of it; I’ve been judged as intolerant and judgmental because of it.. no, Him.
And so I’ve been downing on being me, you know. Keeping what I know is true, quiet. Hushing up about it. Feeling like the reading and studying of my Bible could calm down a little bit so I don’t seem weird or offend people.
And then I realized, why? I talk as if I’m the only one in the history of Christians that has had to deal with this sort of issue. And God is always good! He lets me remember Scripture when I need it.
My answer to these people who say that I’m rude and stupid and overly-religious should be Paul’s:
“Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people-pleaser. I’m trying to please God. If I were trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant.”
The end. I’m sorry. Lately, I realize I’ve been assuming this attitude of, “Oh, I don’t want to offend anyone away from church, so I gotta tone it down a bit so that they don’t get mad at what I believe.” You know what? I’m not cussing, screaming, or shoving it down anyone’s throat, I’m just being me. I’m done with being “politically correct”.
Sometimes, I just gotta remember what Jesus says:
“And everyone will hate you because of me. But those who endure to the end will be saved.”
—Matthew 10:22
Obviously, I’m not trying to make people hate me. But there will be those narrow-minded people out there who will hate me anyway, without even getting to know me as a person, just because I follow Christ.
So as for me, I’m taking it upon myself to not care about what people think of me in regards to my Faith. Because Paul says, “If I were still trying to serve people, I would not be Christ’s servant.”
This says to me that 1) I shouldn’t be trying to please people anyway. “Still” implies a continued habit or process unrelented, that should be. It shows me, in reverse, that serving people means that I am not a servant of Christ. And I am not a servant of the people, but of my Lord Jesus Christ.
“And now that you have found God (or should I say, now that God has found you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual powers of this world?”
—Galatians 4:9
We used to serve people. We used to serve ourselves by pursuing our selfish ambition, and by trying to gain the approval of the world. We want people to see us as great and mighty, but to our draining of the soul. It’s ridiculous! We would give our lives to be seen in the eyes of the world, dying in the process, instead of throwing off what we can never, ever accomplish (full approval from the world) and pursuing true life and acceptance and love in Jesus Christ.
For me, “people-pleasing” is the same as wanting to be accepted by the world.
“And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
—Mark 36-37
So now that I’ve been spiritually rebuked right now (haha), I realize that I’ve been half-and-half: trying to attain both Christ and approval from the world. I was trying to have my cake and trying to eat it too.
I’m not stupid. We’re human beings. We have the desire to belong, to want to be accepted and to be with others. Who wants to be hated and left alone and ridiculed? Especially for what you believe? Of course, in America at least, it’s not like someone goes up to your face and laughs at you for being a Christian. But there are subtle ways, of course. I won’t list them all, but Christianity in America has gleaned much ridicule and a false reputation as being intolerant and judgmental.
The Bible says in numerous places that we are to be thankful during our trials; we are to rejoice in our sufferings because then we share in Christ’s glory, as strange as it sounds. I always marvel at how God designed this system where everything is upside-down. We are to be last in order to be first. We are to serve in order to be the leader. And when we suffer, we are actually glorified even more.
There was a time just before this when I was actually shunning the Word because of what I felt like it brought upon me. I felt pushed away by people during a certain point in my life because of my Faith, and I put a bit of a lid on my Christian life because of my desire to please the people around me.
And Jason actually gave me a verse today that really hit me. I asked him for a random one, and this is what he gave me which oddly coincided with what I’ve been saying:
“Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in understanding. Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life. If you become wise, you will be the one to benefit. If you scorn wisdom, you will be the one to suffer.”
—Proverbs 9:10-12.
I don’t know about you, but I have a longing to understand. I hate that feeling when I just don’t get it. Math is just one of those subjects that I do not understand.. haha, but when it comes to God, the Creator of the Universe, I want so badly to understand and to see Him for what He really is.
A reverence and acknowledgement of the Majesty and Sovereignty of God in my life will lead to an understanding of Him.
But when I push away my Word; when I push Him away in pursuit of worldly approval, then it is as the Bible says: “If I scorn wisdom.. I will be the one to suffer.“
Which reminds me of this verse, doubly said:
“Reverence for the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.”
—Psalm 111:10
When I seek approval from people, I am not revering Him. I lose reverence for Him, then I lose wisdom. And guess who suffers? Not those I’m trying to please, but myself. I traded wisdom and understanding of the Lord for a mere, “Oh, she’s pretty chill”? What a horrible trade.
So in conclusion, I’m not going to be a people-pleaser, although I will do my part to try to win others through Christ in action, if not through my words. Being a people-pleaser means I have not fully devoted myself to Christ; rather, I am still set on pleasing people, which in turn means I am still holding fast to my own selfish ambitions, which in addition I am called to release so that I may take up my own cross and follow Jesus.
To pursue approval from the world means that I would be pushing aside the Word of God, flesh and literarily-speaking. It means that when I pursue the approval of people rather than God, I don’t understand Him; I don’t know Him, and I’m not trying to.
I looked up the word scorn from the verse, “If you scorn wisdom, you will be the one to suffer.” Here’s what it says: “Contempt or disdain felt toward a person or object considered despicable or unworthy.”
Now when I pursue approval from the world, I am actually scorning God. No I don’t think He is despicable, but at that moment in time, I consider Him unworthy. I place Him and the World on a scale, and I decide at that moment that He isn’t worthy enough to pursue approval from Him. That’s what I’m doing when I decide to try and please the world: I’m scorning Jesus Christ.
So when we look at Paul, we see that He was not a popular guy, even among the many so-called “Christians” of his day. He didn’t resort to pleasing these people. No, he spoke the Truth with conviction and sorrow and passion. He put Christ above any title and praise that man could give him. He was definitely not a people-pleaser, because he realizes his master was not in men but in Christ.
I think we as Christians fall away from Christ to the world sometimes, because we forget what we were put on this earth for. We were made for God’s glory, for His Purpose, not for man’s. When we forget this, we seek to find glory in ourselves and in others.
So instead, let’s pick ourselves up and pursue Christ. We were warned hundreds of years ago that the world would hate us. We were warned that it would be hard and that people wouldn’t understand. We need to stop trying to play the Mediator between the world and God; we need to stop trying to find a delicate balance between not offending them and bringing them to Christ at the same time; rather, we need to start talking about the Mediator! We need to start just being straight-up with others when it comes to Christ!
We cannot please everybody. We can change our hair, our jobs, our appearances and our personalities to please whoever, but we can never, ever please everyone. Somebody will always hate you or have something bad to say about you. So furthermore, as Christians, why do we spend our time trying to be accepted by those who scorn the Living God? Rather, we should spend our time trying to please He who will always, always, always be pleased with us because of what His Son did for us.
Not because we changed our hair, clothes, job; not because we obeyed 5 out of 10 of the Commandments, not because you didn’t curse today, but because of the beautiful and loving sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. Trying to please the world means doing—a continuous process. Trying to please God means knowing you are a sinner in need of a Savior, and then accepting Christ into your life as your Lord and Saviour; living in Him. Why please the world when in Christ, you have already please He who holds the entire world in His hand?
The world will never accept you, no matter what you do. But in Christ, no matter what we do or our lack thereof, God will never push you away.
In this, I am thankful to Him for life in exchange for death. In this, I would rather be a servant of Christ than a servant of the people.
So be nice and sweet and funny, but when it comes to Jesus Christ, let’s stop trying to please people about it by not talking about Him, by changing the subject or by limiting the Truth so we don’t offend them. We were not commissioned to please others, but to let others know the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords; the one who died so we could live.
Let us live to please Christ and not men.
Been on my heart for a bit, kind of turned into a mini-message but it’s something all of us Christians struggle with. Wanting to fit in and belong with the world when really, we don’t belong in it and neither are we supposed to. Keep it in mind!
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