I was part of an interesting Twitter convo the other day that started with an interesting tweet from my wife (@tablewis) that read:
“Question…… Do you need to fire yourself from the job of trying to make EVERYONE else happy? It’s not our job!”
That got me thinking and I asked myself a question that I know ask you. How often do I spend time or resources trying to please or accommodate others?
I’m not talking about the gospel-focused core calling of every believer to represent the abundant life Jesus offers to all humankind. I’m talking about those little moments where we compromise the seemingly innocuous and benign elements and “go along to get along”.
These verses here, here, and here speak to the fact that other followers of Christ have faced the issue of critics and spoke plainly about it. Our aim is to please HIM not THEM!
Without elaborating on gory details, some people will always have a problem with the way you are doing things. It is interesting that in the “church world” it’s the “church people” who seem to poke holes and hurl accusations.
We all have a choice to make in our relationship with Jesus: we can seek to please him or we can seek to please others – rarely will we accomplish both. In fact, if you aren’t receiving criticism that might be a good check to see if you are really smoking what you’re selling.
No one can follow God’s plan for your life but you.
Pursue it mightily and without compromise!
Ignore the critics.
We play for an audience of ONE.
