Galatians 1: 10: “For am I seeking (striving) the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” In our Scripture this week, Paul asks an important question that every Christian leader must ask themselves daily and consider in their leadership decisions. He then answers his question by stating, If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” His answer refers to his previous days when he zealously strived to please the Jews by persecuting Christians and contrasts that time in his life to his conversion and surrender to the Christ. He had once been a “people pleaser,” but was now a “God pleaser.” Which one will we be in a world in which “people pleasing” is given higher priority than God pleasing. The answer lies in our hands, in our purpose in living and the focus of our leadership motives.

Jesus has set us free from being enslaved to the applause of man and we need not to be under the oppression of man’s opinions. These guide us into their image, rather than the image of God. Our goal is to be conformed to the image of Christ. The people you lead at home, work, church and community will take notice of what drives you in the decisions you are required to make. When I served as President of Texas A&M, this was imposed on me every day because of the leadership decisions that had to be made. My morning prayer was that God would give me the wisdom and courage to make the right decisions based on His Word and that His witness in my life would be protected. I tried to live by WWJD -What Would Jesus Do? My decisions were not always popular with man and the liberal faculty.  Many times, I was not a “people pleaser.” However, if I made the right decision, God always honored it and proved Himself to be true and faithful. This same spiritual principle of striving to please God, rather than man, will never be more evident than in the lives of your wife and children. It will also model and teach them how to live their own lives to please God, not man. Question: Are you a people pleaser or a God pleaser?