Okay, deep breath, here goes: I confess to a life-long struggle with people pleasing.Yep... there I've said it.
Do you still like me?
Dr. Harriet Braiker called people pleasing "The Disease to Please." She described people pleasing as a form of addiction. Just as drug addicts crave drugs, people pleasers crave approval.
People pleasing can become a form of idolatry.
These verses capture the heart of the problem: "But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God." John 12:42-43
Most of us (even though we don’t want to admit it) love praise from people. Unconsciously we can start to put people’s opinions ahead of God’s opinion.
I want to ask, "What will God think?" more often than I ask, "What will they think?"
The best antidote for the fear of people is the fear of God. I want my life to reflect 1 Thessalonians 2:4, 6, "… We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts… We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else."
