I am a Pleaser
Maybe you pat yourself on the back and say: “Well, you may be a pleaser but I’m not. I get frustrated with people with that kind of a personality – always wanting and always trying to be a pleaser. They must have many insecurities. As far as I can figure out, they try to earn people’s approval and acceptance by being a pleaser. I find them annoying.”
Really, you find pleasers a tad-bit annoying? Did you ever think that you, yourself, are one of those pleasers but maybe in a different way? A very solid argument can be made that you are definitely a pleaser and so am I – in fact, if you stop and think about it, we all are pleasers.
- Some live to please others out of love.
- Some live to please others for some ulterior motive – maybe to buy their favor.
- Some live to please themselves.
- Some live to please God.
Even the Lord Jesus was a pleaser and He wasn’t ashamed of it. Here is what He told the Jews one day when He was teaching in the public court of the temple.
“I do always those things that please Him (the Father).”
John 8:29
He didn’t say: “Sometimes or mostly or I always try to do things that please the Father.” He told them: “I always, without exception, do those things and only those things that please Him.”
Never once did Jesus do anything or even consider doing anything that would disappoint His Father. His life on earth was totally lived for the pleasure and satisfaction of the Father. In that way, Jesus was a pleaser. It is no small wonder that God announced from Heaven on more than one occasion: “This is my Son, in whom I well-pleased.”
Have you ever wondered what kind of message would come down to Planet Earth if an announcement was to be made about you?
Would your Heavenly Father say: “This is my child, Alfonso Biskimpsi, with whom I am so pleased to see him progressing as a believer in all his efforts to please
We can live primarily to please ourselves. Paul wrote to Timothy about people who loved their own selves or were fond of themselves and pleased themselves selfishly. (2Timothy 3:2) Those would be non-Christians in that context; but he also wrote to Christians in Romans 15:1. He taught that stronger believers should bear with the failings of the weak and then he added “.and not to please ourselves.” To strengthen his point he then holds up the Lord Jesus as the Supreme example: “For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” (Romans 15:3 NASB)
One major piece of evidence that a person is genuinely saved is their desire to please God. It is the innate goal of every authentic believer to:
“.walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects,
bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
(Colossians 1:10 NASB)
Dear fellow believer, isn’t it your deepest desire to please the One who literally loved you to death? As you go about your business today acknowledge you are, in fact, a pleaser. And then ask yourself: “But who am I pleasing?”
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.
Warmly in Christ
Peter Ramsay