“yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God” John 12v42-43
The temptation of people pleasing is a big one in my life and for me, more often than not the temptation very quickly leads to the sin. When I take time to meditate on my spiritual health and do some real heartwork I find myself searching for an answer to this question. Whose approval do I seek? To my shame, most of my actions throughout the day have a people pleasing agenda, I do things, not to glorify God but to take the glory from him and place it on myself and others. This is something I really struggle with, I also see so many other brothers and sisters giving into it as well. The desire to please people is probably the most respectable and frequent sin throughout my day. I aim to please people regardless of what the Bible says when it talks about who the glory always belongs to, my fickle and weak attitude bends towards human approval more than Gods affirming love. The root of this is of course sin and it has penetrated into my proud broken heart.
Jeremiah sums up our spiritual health when he says our hearts have been and always will be “deceitful and desperately sick.” (Jeremiah 17:9). The conditions of our heart has not changed, people’s thoughts, words and deeds are pretty much the same now as they were in Jesus’ time BUT there has been a change in our visibility. Now we have social media, to further our desire to be seen, heard and liked. The public eye has changed from person to person into a global landscape. This isn’t gong to help our hearts as we daily seek the approval and affirmation of strangers even more than we seek God’s approval in our lives. Our public and private life has merged into a messy illusion and we work so desperately hard to keep it looking ‘happy’.
There are so many examples of Jesus warning us against this destructive attitude. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus gives us multiple warnings,
“when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by other." (Matthew 6:5)
He also begins the chapter by admonishing our pride,“beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1). We know that this attitude of human affirmation is dangerous, yet, if you are anything like me, still fall so easily into the sin. This behaviour is something that has been happening since the beginning, Israel took their eyes off God and placed it onto themselves,
“be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jeremiah 2:12-13)
We all are the broken cisterns that we care so much about pleasing. It’s a sobering thought. When we place our ambition on people, we become like the pharisees, “yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God” (John 12:42-43). When I read this I find it is familiar behaviour, I find myself craving human praise in situations and not giving God a second thought.
We should be ambitious in our day to day lives, as long as it is focused on showing the worth of God in Christ, not ourselves. Jesus put it this way,“Let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). In everything we do we must seek to glorify God, one of the best verses for this is 2 Corinthians 5:9, “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.” The highest goal of all is to please Christ. Throughout our daily lives as a Christian, experiencing and knowing the call of God in whatever you do should be your biggest ambition. This is something I have to constantly remind myself. We need to be asking ourselves difficult questions, is pleasing Jesus my supreme life ambition? Are all my other ambitions submitting to this? Whose approval do I really seek? When we think about these things we must go back to scripture, it will give us our answers, our support and our encouragement. Being a Christian means we want to spend our time and talents for Gods glory, but being sinful people means we are going to get this wrong from time to time.
We can either be ambitious for ourselves and others or ambitious for God. People pleasing has become a glory thief in my life and an idolater. We need a call to integrity, every single morning we must pray that the Lord will be first in our lives. It is so easy for our eyes to wander but we need to be constantly reminding one another, through love, that God’s approval is the only thing we should seek. My prayer for myself, and for you, is that we understand how to please God more, everyday and to renounce our attitude towards people pleasing. I pray that we become content with ourselves and with others and, like Paul, find discernment for every situation,“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Philippians 4:11–12). Heartwork is hard work for a reason, but it reveals things to us. In everything we do, we need to do it for the Glory of God.
By Sophie Clarke.
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