“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody.” says Herbert Bayard Swope
Okay lets say ... Life is like a piano... the white keys represent happiness and the black keys are sadness ...
As we all go through life's journey ... the black keys make music too.
What you get out of it depends on how you play it ...
I know we can't always get what we want in life nor can we please everyone either
We definitely can't live our life based on just what everyone else thinks.
We just have to know that ... we can only have peace if we understand grace ...
And the gospel (good news) is a result of God's grace.
Therefore stop letting others telling you what you should or should not do in life
Remember at the end of the day you just have to answer to Him alone.
Reading Linda Bailey's daily devotional on You Can't Please Everyone really inspired me. She started theological studies in 1999. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the local Christian radio station here in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible.
Scripture :
Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Scenario : Linda's friend, Robyn told her about how she had a terrible day a few weeks ago. Robyn was supposed to leave work early to pick up her daughter from school so they could get her ready for her formal. But Robyn got stuck in a meeting and didn't leave on time as she was trying to please her colleagues. Even as she was running out the door of her office she stopped to sign some cheques for the bursar to please him too. Even though her daughter was very upset with her running late, Robyn raced around the house trying to help her daughter get ready for her big night. As Robyn was ushering her daughter out the door her son asked to borrow her computer. She had forgotten to pick up her computer after signing the cheques so she drove all the way back to work, after dropping her daughter off at her formal, just to pick up her computer to please her son. Because of all this running around Robyn had totally forgotten about a social event her partner had invited her to and so even though she had done her best to please everyone she ended up not really pleasing anyway and hurting the person who loves her the most! Oh dear, what a day right!
Life doesn`t give you the people you want, it gives you the people you need. To help you, to hurt you, to love you, to leave you, & to make you into the person you were meant to be.
I keep reminding myself every time I am upset, someone once said this to me ...
Prayer : Lord, it is so tempting to do our best to please other people. Help me Lord to only focus on pleasing You so that I can be a true servant of Christ. Amen.
Reading Linda Bailey's daily devotional on You Can't Please Everyone really inspired me. She started theological studies in 1999. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the local Christian radio station here in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible.
Scripture :
Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Scenario : Linda's friend, Robyn told her about how she had a terrible day a few weeks ago. Robyn was supposed to leave work early to pick up her daughter from school so they could get her ready for her formal. But Robyn got stuck in a meeting and didn't leave on time as she was trying to please her colleagues. Even as she was running out the door of her office she stopped to sign some cheques for the bursar to please him too. Even though her daughter was very upset with her running late, Robyn raced around the house trying to help her daughter get ready for her big night. As Robyn was ushering her daughter out the door her son asked to borrow her computer. She had forgotten to pick up her computer after signing the cheques so she drove all the way back to work, after dropping her daughter off at her formal, just to pick up her computer to please her son. Because of all this running around Robyn had totally forgotten about a social event her partner had invited her to and so even though she had done her best to please everyone she ended up not really pleasing anyway and hurting the person who loves her the most! Oh dear, what a day right!
Sometimes our lives can feel like that too. We try our best to please everyone only to have everything blow up in our faces.
Observation : The Bible never tells us to please other people. You can look through every single verse and it will not tell you to go out of your way to make everyone else happy. It does say that we should do our best to please God though. If we are worried about pleasing other people, we need to change our priorities and put all of our focus on pleasing God. He is the most important element in our lives. When we please God we may not be pleasing everyone around us, but we are staying in tune with the reason we were created. God creates us, He saves us and He gives us life. The only applause we should be seeking is those of nail-scarred hands.
Application : What is a way that you can please God today?
Observation : The Bible never tells us to please other people. You can look through every single verse and it will not tell you to go out of your way to make everyone else happy. It does say that we should do our best to please God though. If we are worried about pleasing other people, we need to change our priorities and put all of our focus on pleasing God. He is the most important element in our lives. When we please God we may not be pleasing everyone around us, but we are staying in tune with the reason we were created. God creates us, He saves us and He gives us life. The only applause we should be seeking is those of nail-scarred hands.
Application : What is a way that you can please God today?
Action : Accept having all kinds of people around me, friends who support me and those who disagrees.
Life doesn`t give you the people you want, it gives you the people you need. To help you, to hurt you, to love you, to leave you, & to make you into the person you were meant to be.
I keep reminding myself every time I am upset, someone once said this to me ...
“I will always be beside you, until the very end. Wiping all your tears away, being your best friend. I'll smile when you smile, and feel the pain you do, and if you cry a single tear, I promise I'll cry too.”
These friends are like angels who lift us to our feet
when our
wings have trouble remembering how to fly.
Prayer : Lord, it is so tempting to do our best to please other people. Help me Lord to only focus on pleasing You so that I can be a true servant of Christ. Amen.
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