Not Looking for Fans

Text: Galatians 1:10
Theme: Trying to please people is diametrically opposed to pleasing God.
Key verse: “I am not writing to win you over. Do you think I care about the approval of men or about the approval of God? Do you think I am on a mission to please people? If I am still spinning my wheels trying to please men, then there is no way I can be a servant of the Liberating King.” (v. 10)
What God said to me: Dwayne, you’re very nature is to want people to like you. You have always tended toward being a “people-pleaser.” You enjoy the approval of others and the roar of an enthusiastic audience. You’re seasoned enough to know to keep in check your desire to please others. And yet, how many decisions in the past over what to sing or where to stand on stage or what clothes to wear have been motivated by the thought of an adoring crowd? A more subtle way you demonstrate your need of approval and acceptance is how you sometimes cover up sins and weaknesses and put on a front that everything is OK with you. Certainly you shouldn’t air your dirty laundry indiscriminately. However, you should be willing to come clean to your accountability partners and spouse. Prudent transparency is a necessary part of authenticity.
What I said to God: Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Cleanse me of secret faults. Please reveal to me ill motives and any devilish desires to have others’ approval more than Yours. Thank You for speaking so clearly to me today. I love You.