Brothers and sisters, our life should be about pleasing God, not man. Galatians 1:10 says, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” It is not the job of any Christian to please men or women. It is our duty to obey God and please Him. Often, people became mad in Bible times when people spoke the truth to them. Remember the truth is the Sword of the Spirit, Ephesians 6:17. The Bible sometimes has to prick people’s hardened hearts and by so doing, truth sometimes hurts us in the way man looks at it, but brothers and sisters, it really helps us.
Now the Truth might hurt our preconceived prejudices and opinions. It might even hurt our feelings if our heart is not pure, but brethren, it never really hurts us, it always helps us. In Matthew 15:12-14, we read, “Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Brothers and sisters, we must earnestly contend for the faith, Jude 3.
It is high time that many Christians get a “spiritual backbone” and start fighting the good fight of faith! I Timothy 6:12 says, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” I Corinthians 16:13 says, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”
The whole duty of man is given in Ecclesiastes 12:13. This verse says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Our life should be about obeying God and keeping His commands. Our goal should be to please God, not man. My friends, we must not conform to this world, but we must be transformed by the Gospel. Romans 12:2 still says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
As each day we live, let us put God First (Matthew 6:33). Let us also love Him above all others. Jesus has taught us the Way in which to love God. He says, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment (Mark 12:30). Let us work each day to please our God, and we can only do this when we determine to please Him, not man!
Jason Gann
Registrar
Tennessee Bible College