People Pleaser?

 

Welcome to 2025!  Often when I enter a new year, I reflect on the past one, look for accomplishments and gaps, and see where I want to strive to close those gaps for the next year.  I used to be a strong New Year’s Resolutions person – only to be disappointed over and over again by my lack of attaining all the resolutions I set out to achieve.  Although many of the resolutions I would set would work on self-identified items, they were typically so I could be better for someone else.  How could I be better at work?  How could I be better as a wife/mother/daughter?  How could I look better?  See the picture?  My goals were an attempt to please someone around me, or even trying to please myself!  I used to set the goal, outline a plan for success, review it weekly, and look for attainment.  Small gains were seen as huge victories, only to be short-lived!  Please tell me you have been here as well!

My view changed a few years ago.  When I began the accomplishment/gap evaluation, I looked at my life here on earth, but I also turned my focus from being a ‘people pleaser’ to being a ‘God pleaser.’  To be honest with you, when I looked at it that way, the gaps became chasms.  Did I live the type of life He wanted for me?  Was I being the person He wanted me to be?  My self-evaluation continued to show me where I fell short on this earth.  I would leave this exercise feeling as if I would never get there.

Friends, my evaluation is correct.  We will never get to be the perfect earthly person.  Only one lived perfectly on earth, our dear Jesus.  No matter how hard we try, no matter how much effort we put against it, we will continue to fall short of the perfect Godly person.  We are a sinful bunch – natural sin takes over the day we are born.  The sinful nature continues each and every day we live here on earth.  There is absolutely nothing we can do to change it.  Yet, that does not give us the right to put our Christian values aside when we are with folks who are gossiping about others.  That does not give us the right to treat people deceitfully because someone asks us to.  That does not give us the right to give up who we are or who we aspire to be in God’s light because we want to please people here on earth.  Setting the goal of being a God pleaser versus a people pleaser will mean never reaching the goal!

Here is the best news of the day – God does not expect us to reach the goal here on earth!  God’s expectations of us is to focus and try.  He expects us to read His word, digest it and live it out in this earthly world.  He expects us to do our absolute best to obey His commandments and share His love with others.  Not achieving the end goal in this case is not a disappointment.  Each step we take in this goal brings us closer to Him!  Moving past being a people pleaser and becoming a God pleaser gets our focus away from ‘me’ and brings us closer to ‘Him.’  How do we know when we have achieved this new goal?  We will see it every day in the path we follow in His name.  We will look at life differently, we will start seeing the world through God’s eyes and appreciate ALL things, the little and large achievements.  We will see that we are wonderfully made by God and that He, even with all of our sin, is proud of us.  Proud enough to be called His children.  Let us work hard on being a God Pleaser this year.  We will stumble, but each step will be bringing us closer to our heavenly Father!

Dearest God, help us to focus our eyes upon You!  May we move away from trying to please people and move closer to trying to please you.  Help lay the path that I can follow and help me to open my eyes to see it.  Amen!