Who do you try to please?
Nettie Bozanich
 
Many of us thrive on approval.  Sure, we all want people around us to like us, accept us and give us a pat on the back from time to time – and that’s alright in balanced doses.  But the thing is – we can’t live on approval.  We can’t please everyone because everyone is not the same.  However, many of us still focus on pleasing others and in the course of trying to do so, we become frustrated and we begin to lose our identity. 
 
Some of us try to please certain people: parents, relatives, co-workers, spouses, friends, those in the community.  In doing so, we become a function of their ever-changing desires and expectations.  It becomes harder and harder to define who we are as we constantly try to keep up with the ever-growing desire for approval.  The thing with approval is that when we get it, we want more. 
 
Some of us try to please the self.  Sure, it is important to take care of oneself and do things that are pleasing but there is a need for balance.  If we just focus on pleasing the self we can easily end up being too self-focused and too concerned with personal desire.  We, too, are subject to our own ever-changing desires and expectations.  It is hard to keep up with the self.
 
Whether we are trying to please everyone, some people, just one person or the self, we are failing to focus on the One who made us and the One who has already planned each step of our days.  If we seek God, we will find Him loving us for who He made us to be.  As we please God through following the plan He has set out for our lives, we find that pleasing the self and pleasing others becomes less and less important.  We find joy, purpose and acceptance in pleasing and praising an all-knowing God.
 
Focusing on pleasing God is radical and not always popular with human expectation and desire.  It doesn’t always look and feel pleasing to the outside world.  It doesn’t always make sense according to the world’s eyes.  
In pleasing others or the self, our identity is built on shaky ground.  Each of our identities lies in Him.  Who we are in Christ is really who we are!  Look to God for your identity and He will tell you that you belong to Him. 
 
So, who are you going to please?  If you choose to please God, then you will never have to change who are according to the will of human beings and you will reap endless joy in following God who made you because it pleased Him to do so. 
 
Galatians 1:10: “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.”


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