Who Are You Trying to Please?
“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.”
Galatians 1:10
When I was newly ordained, I breathed a sigh of relief. Not because learning how to be a clergyperson is easy, but because I had spent years “in the process.” In what process? In the process of discerning whether or not I was called to ordination. It was a combined effort of me, my local church, diocesan staff, spiritual directors, seminary professors and others. A lot of prayer and reflection went into the final ‘yes’ and so, when I finally was ordained, it felt like a long time coming.
Yet, with that sigh of relief, I also asked myself the question, “Is this it?” As I reflected on why that question came to mind, I realized that in the midst of working out what God was calling me to (and whether or not I was willing to obey), I had some of my own unresolved hopes and fears. My motives were not pure. Yes, God had called me, but I’d imported some of my insecurities into that calling, insecurities that my ordination would never fix!
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God?” Paul asks. What motivates a preacher in preaching? What motivates anyone in living as God has called them to live? Is it the drive of pure devotion to God? Or is it pure self-interest, people-pleasing or otherwise? The truth, as it so often is, is usually somewhere in the middle. And that tension is a daily battle, a daily question our lives answer. Am I continuing to live out of my own ambition, fear or insecurity? Or am I living from knowing God’s goodness revealed in the risen Jesus? Am I like some of the preachers of Paul’s day who lived to win popularity and fame or am I like Paul and living out of a response to the humbling and life-changing experience of meeting the risen Christ?
Motives to please others, ourselves or our insecurities will always leave us asking, “Is this it?” Yet, remembering who we serve — and His great love for us — will remind us and free us to embrace His call each day. May you know that this Easter season.
