God-Pleaser!

God-Pleaser

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. Galatians 1:10 KJV

The Inspiration:

Paul had come a long way from where he spoke the words of this verse. He had a zeal to promote Jewish culture and tradition, and he would do anything, even kill, in order to entrench his beliefs. At the time Stephen was stoned to death, the young men who did the stoning lay their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. He knew what the Jewish leaders at the time wanted, and he pursued it with vigour. He even went to them to obtain letters of authority to enable him arrest all who belonged to the Way of Christ. That was zeal, patriotism and national fervour, the kind that does not go unnoticed. It was not a surprise that he was noticed. However, we know now that zeal without the right kind of knowledge, is dangerous. For all who will please God and walk in His steps on a daily basis, there is need for daily dependence on what God says, to the exclusion of all other voices, no matter how loud or popular they may be.

The Contention:

At this time, Paul had gone on his missionary journeys, and had seen the power of the gospel of Christ at work in the lives of men. He could compare the effect of the zeal with which he tried to entrench Jewish culture, and the ease with which the power of God was able to change circumstances, situations and people. That power is still at work today, and there is no situation so far gone that it is beyond the grace and mercy of God. For a man who had seen both sides, it was easy for him to make such a categorical statement as seen in today's verse. It is quite important for anyone who will walk with and work for God to ask and receive that personal encounter of the power of God. There is a limit to where zeal, strength, intellect, elocution, education, earnings, influence and connections can take you to; these are important in their own ways, but the foundation of all these must be the personal encounter with the Lord Jesus. 

The Conclusion:

When you know Christ, He becomes the sole authority over your life. Pleasing God becomes the sole pursuit and priority of your life. Pleasing men can be very complex, because you always have to find a way to contour and change shape to suit the demands of your audience. Where is the consistency and the dependency that will make God trust your heart, if He cannot even predict your response to any situation? Servants serve at the pleasure of their masters. A servant cannot serve two masters, or be equally loyal to 2 opposing masters at the same time. If a servant of God is still seeking to serve man's selfish interests, then that servant needs to review and be sure where s/he stands. No servant of God seeks to please men, because that will be a sign that I have not surrendered my life fully to the control and authority of Jesus. He is looking for true servants, who He can send out to impact the world. Am I one? God's time of favour is here.