PLAYING TO ONE AUDIENCE
Have you ever felt like you couldn’t please anyone no matter how hard you were trying to please everyone? Or have you ever worked hard to make someone happy and failed? Just making dinner can be a challenge if you’re trying to please your family’s varying tastes. Have you ever tried to select worship music that will please everyone? Good luck with that! You simply can’t please everyone all the time. And sometimes you can’t please anyone! Rather than experiencing the joy of being a servant, you end up frustrated, feeling like a failure.
I have good news for you. You don’t have to run around madly trying to please everyone. Yes, God calls us to put others first–but He doesn’t call us to put our eyes on others. We’re to look to Him, to trust Him, and to serve Him.
I’m sure we’ve all experienced the craziness of trying to please everyone around us. Our desire to please everyone can blind us to what we really need to be doing to please the Lord.
I can’t describe the freedom that came when I finally just surrendered what others thought of me. I gave up being the perfect person and trying to get it all right. And you know what? I discovered that, as I became real before the Lord, He could begin to work in my heart. Trusting and depending on Him began to replace vainly striving to follow everyone’s rules and meet everyone’s standards.
My tip to you this month is to remember that you are God’s servant. Surrender what others think of you. Give up the “perfect” dream. Focus instead on getting to know your Master, Father, and dearest Friend. Rest in His unmerited, never-ending love. Walk by His Spirit, leaning on Him and trusting Him to guide your steps–He will!
But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 2:4 (KJV)
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit… Galatians 5:16a (KJV)
Pastor J.R.
