People pleasing – Devotion for
Are you a “people pleaser”? Sometimes we become quite caught up in making everyone else happy, and in doing so, we end up making ourselves unhappy. A people pleaser will try to be what someone else wants them to be, and they are afraid of rocking the boat in certain situations. A people pleaser may find it hard to speak their own mind, finding it easier to just go along with what someone else wants. A people pleaser will just want everyone to get along, and so they also have a hard time saying “no” in situations so that they can just “keep the peace.” It is a natural tendency for us to want to be people pleasers – it begins quite early as children trying to please their parents and teachers. But at some point in our life we have to change our view of who we should attempt to please.
In Luke 12:1-21, I think Jesus is addressing “people pleasing.” He is talking about covering up things, keeping things hidden. We all have something in our lives that we keep (or try to keep) hidden from other people because we are scared what others might think of us if they knew the truth. But Jesus reminds us “there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Luke 12:2). We are reminded by Jesus that he knows everything about us – “indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (I think I just lost #457!). He knows all about us, and he still loves us. Maybe instead of focusing on pleasing others we should focus on pleasing God. A God pleaser will try to be what God wants them to be, and the will rock the boat in certain situations if it pleases God. A God pleaser may find it hard to speak their own mind, because they instead speak from the mind of God. A God please will recognize that to have true “peace,” sometimes they will have to disagree with people and that not everyone will get along. Today, who do you want to please – God or people?
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