I’m committed to pursuing God’s agenda and not My own. John 5:30 (VOICE)
Do you ever feel like you’re running around like a chicken with your head chopped off trying to keep everyone happy?
Christians can easily fall into this trap. It starts out as a desire to help, but the approval you get from others can be addicting. It makes you feel valuable. You begin to rely on others’ approval instead of finding worth in what God thinks of you.
It’s easy to misinterpret people-pleasing as good Christian behaviour. After all, we’re taught to think of others before ourselves and to adapt to best connect with others. The difference is that people-pleasing causes us to put others’ opinions before everything—even God—and this is not what following Jesus is all about.
We have to take our cues from Jesus. Jesus wasn’t a people-pleaser, so we don’t have to keep everyone happy all the time either.
Jesus was contemporary. He adapted Himself to make people comfortable. He matched His communication style to His audience. But He never changed what he stood for to suit people, and His main motivation wasn’t to keep people happy.
Jesus was completely committed to pleasing God, and if people came between Him and His calling, He wasn’t afraid to confront them. When Peter tried to convince Him not to give up His life, Jesus said, Get out of my way, Satan! You are an offence to me, because your thoughts are only filled with man’s viewpoint and not with the ways of God (Matthew 16:23, TPT).
Put God first, get your self-worth from who you are in Christ, and don’t be afraid to say no to people.