It is Better to Please God, Rather Than Man!
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm,
then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
(Gal 5:1)
Have you ever done your best to please someone, gone out of your way to do
everything in your power to make them comfortable and happy, only to find out
later that they couldn't be pleased? That they saw you only as a tool? That they
mocked your attempts at friendship?
I had been up all night struggling with a similar scenario. I had been trying
for years to please this particular lady, but in the past 2 weeks, I had put my
whole heart and soul into it. I had done everything my conscience would allow me
to do to to love her, to make her feel comfortable, to bring pleasure into her
life, and selfishly, to have her see me as at least a good person, even if she
never learned to be my friend. Then I found out what she really thought of me.
She saw me as someone who was out to take advantage, someone who was trying to
steel away those who cared for her.
Needless to say, I was pretty upset. At first I fought a very normal emotion:
Anger. But God had been working on me too long to love this person in spite of
her faults, and I found it relatively easy to choose to forgive. This didn't
take away the hurt, however, and I tossed and turned for a couple of hours
wondering where I'd gone wrong, planning ways in my mind to try to make things
better, worrying about my image, etc. And the more I worried, the more the anger
kept trying to creep in. In fact, "choosing" to forgive became a "minutely"
necessity!
Finally I went downstairs to toss and turn on the couch. I was keenly aware that
I was being burdened. Not only by her opinion of me, but by my anger and my
feelings of inadequacy. I was being burdened by the yoke of slavery! As I began
to pray, the Holy Spirit reminded me that Jesus could set me free from ALL
bondage, even the self-induced kind!
But the hurt was too bad. Though I tried, I couldn't let it go! I began to pray
for help. As I did, my mind was suddenly filled with scenes of Jesus' life, his
arrest, his trial, and his death. I could see the religious leaders rejecting
Him. I could even imagine His mother and His brothers gently rebuking Him. Yet
He continued on. The more I contemplated the life of Jesus, the more the
emotions that had been burdening me began to slip away. I began to realize that
it didn't matter what this lady, or anyone else for that matter, thought of me!
What mattered was whether or not I was trying to live the way Jesus would have
lived. If my actions were rooted in love and a heartfelt desire to serve, God
knew my heart, and I would receive a heavenly reward for my efforts!
Even King David knew what it felt like to be completely rejected by human
beings. His cry, recorded in Ps. 142, completely mirrored my feelings that
night: "In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. Look to my
right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my
life." (Ps. 142:3,4). Yet he too, found the freedom from the bondage of
slavery: "I cry to you, O LORD; I say, 'You are my refuge, my portion in the
land of the living.'" (Ps 142:5).
Dearest Lord, Thank You that our worth isn't defined in human terms! Let us
never forget that when our motives have been love and servitude, You are
pleased, and You will reward us, even when humans do not! Help us to learn to
seek after YOUR approval, not that of humans, that we may be forever set free
from the burden of slavery!
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart,