Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. Galatians 1:20
As we think about living faithful and obedient lives to God, one of the questions to ask ourselves is, “Whom are you seeking approval from?” Whether we realize it or not, our faithfulness is directly affected by whom we are seeking approval from. If we are not careful, the approval of the people around us can keep us from living the lives that we know God is calling us to live. Because of this, Scripture compels us to let go of other people’s approval and live solely for God.
The apostle Paul understood that he could not let the approval of other people keep him from God’s calling on his life. He wrote about this in the book of Galatians. In chapter 1, Paul called readers not to be swayed or pulled away by people who are far from Christ. These people only pull us away from the direction we want to go. Paul taught that there is a better way than people-pleasing. He wrote, “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant” (verse 20). Paul knew whose approval he was seeking, and it was not the people around him. He only wanted God's approval. That was all that mattered to him. Paul went as far to say that if he wanted people’s approval, he would not be a servant of Christ, which was a title he considered most important. In fact, in many of the books of the Bible that Paul wrote, he called himself a servant of Christ. Because Paul knew His mission, to serve Christ, He was not derailed by a desire to please all of the people around him.
My friend, if we want to please God, there is no room for pleasing anyone else. If we want to be Christ’s servant, we have to live for His approval and His alone. Trying to please other people will only derail us from the mission and the calling He has for us.
Take a few moments to think about your own life. Whom are you seeking approval from? Are you living for the approval of people around you? Is there a particular person whom you are looking to for approval? Acknowledge this today. Spend some time praying, and tell God you realize you have been living for the approval of others, and ask Him for boldness and courage to let go of approval from anyone else but Him.
Read Galatians 1:1-10 (NLT)
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers and sisters with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
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