People-Pleaser Or Servant of Christ?

Devotional About Seeking To Please God Rather Than Men

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 (NIV)

As a child, I became dependent on words of praise from others as a basis for my personal value. Not until I was an adult did I realize I had become a “people-pleaser.” I was obsessed by what people thought of me.

When I was in my early thirties, my husband and I surrendered to full-time church music ministry. Now there were hundreds of people I needed to please. But there was a problem. I couldn’t do it. No matter how hard I tried, there was always someone to find fault.

God used this time in my life to show me that my responsibility was to please Him, not others. By putting too much emphasis on what others thought of me, I was enslaved to people’s opinions instead of focusing on being a servant of Christ. As a people-pleaser, I was practicing a subtle form of legalism—afraid of stepping over the line or breaking unwritten and unspoken rules, living in fear and worry.

The cure to this awful and prevalent disease? Seeking to please the heavenly Father, and Him only. What freedom and peace it brings!

Dear heavenly Father, Thank You for delivering us from ourselves and our hang-ups--for gently showing us the areas in our lives where we've become enslaved to the wrong things. Help us, Lord, to seek to live lives that are pleasing to You. In Jesus' name, Amen.