Whose servant are you? Are you God’s servant, or are you a man’s servant? This answer can only be obtained by answering another equally crucial question: Who do you seek to please? This is the argument that Paul is making in our passage today. That he is Christ’s servant and does not seek to please men nor seek their approval. He also makes it clear that one can’t please God and men at the same time, one can’t serve God and men at the same time. This particular line of argument was important since he was writing to a people who had abandoned the truth of the Gospel and embraced the teaching of the Judaisers. Seeking to fit in, to be approved by them, they took up circumcision as though it was a requirement for faith.

At our core natural self, we are people pleasers. We do many things in order that we may be approved by men. We dress for the approval of men. We spend our money on things that we perhaps don’t need in order that we may be seen by men. Worse, we even do family in a manner that seeks not the good of our spouse and children, but that which will be approved by others. We have become slaves to what people may think about us. The unfortunate thing is that, for the most part, people don’t even notice nor even care. We must, however, remember that we can’t serve both God and people. We can’t please both God and men (Matthew 6:24). We should be careful not to miss Christ as was the case of some in the Bible:

 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. (John 12:42-43)

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your people pleasing tendencies? (For personal reflection).

2. What do you need to do in light of today’s devotion?