“Do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No, God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I still wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10
“If you go to that church one more time, you’re out!” – My Dad, when I was 16.
I go.
I return home to see all my stuff in the yard. My friend, John, helps me get it all and allows me to stay with him and his family.
When I muligrubbed about the ‘dad’ thing, I knew it was my own fault. I could have had a dad. I could have stayed home.
It’s the price we pay and it has been so worth it!
I think my point is this: There is a certain eternal depth acquired in having friends and ‘family’ that are ‘joint heirs with Christ.’ that we will never ever experience in relationships where we are attempting to please others, especially our relatives.
Sitting across the table from the brother I was at dinner with one night, I knew he was one of those I will know forever! We had just gone to Africa together some years ago. We had sat on dirt floors of clay walled rooms and did Bible studies with orphans whom our organization was seeing transformed by God’s Word!
“If I still wanted to please people… ”
The closer we get to the Lord’s return, whether for each of us as individuals through death or all of us at once through the rapture, His very sudden return for us, the more often we will have to make that choice.
You might feel it once in a while. I certainly have, but the alternative would be a placid, shallow life without purpose.
Please God.
