To Satisfy

"Wanting to satisfy the crowd,

Pilate released Barabbas to them."

Mark 15:15a

The hard prickly object hit me on the side of the head as I innocently walked toward my 5th-grade classroom during recess.  What was that?  I thought as I bent down to pick up the chestnut encased in it's thorny outer casing.  

"Ow!  That hurt!  Who threw that?"  I asked my friends as I rubbed the sore spot on my temple.  "What do they have against me?"  I wondered aloud, secretly feeling flattered when I spotted the group of boys laughing and pointing our way.

"Oh, I guess Billy must like you, Cindy."  my friends teased.

We all know how pre-adolescent boys show their affection; by hitting, throwing things at, or using some other form of physical violence toward the object of their liking, especially when boys gather together.  None of us makes the best decisions when influenced by a group.

While "Billy" may have been trying to get my attention in quite a desperate way, I too make foolish decisions when trying to impress or satisfy anyone or anything besides God.  There is much to distract me from obeying God wholeheartedly.  But without dedicating my whole heart to God, I can't please Him.

God or Others?

"I'd do anything to be popular," the little girl admitted as she ate her snack after school one day.  While this may seem drastic, most of us feel the same way, to one degree or another.  I remember when I was a student in High School being very concerned with buying the right pair of jeans and trying to act a certain way even though it didn't really feel natural; all with the goal of fitting in somewhere.  Teenagers are very concerned with what their peers think.

It's not so different, though, now that I've grown up.  I desire to please God, but many times I find myself thinking about what others will think.  What will people say if I skip weekly Bible study in order to spend more time with my family?  How will it look if my daughter shows up to church with a tattoo?  Will I be ostracized if I share what's really going on in my heart?

Just as Joshua challenged the Israelites to choose this day who they will serve, I must continually confront myself with the same choice. (Joshua 24:15)  Whose opinion matters most: God's or others?  Who will I follow: God or people I admire?  To whom do I pay the most attention: God or people?

When pleasing people is my innermost desire, I will do things that work against God like compromising on His precepts, telling myself it must not be that bad if everyone is doing it.  When trying to impress people, I will most likely end up hurting someone.  If I'm doing things, even noble things, for the wrong reasons, my efforts will bear no kingdom-impact and will mean nothing to God.  (John 15:5-8, Matthew 6:1)

When pleasing God is what my heart craves most of all, I will obey without question.  As Charles Spurgeon said, ". . . when God tells me to do a thing, if I say, 'What for?' I cannot have taken the place which Faith ought to occupy, which is that of simple obedience to whatever the Lord hath said."  Faith is believing beyond reason that God's way is best and that He is able to accomplish what He's promised.  Without this faith, it's impossible to please God.  (Hebrews 11:1)

With this faith, I can focus on pleasing God, not men.  As the Apostle Paul said, "You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed--God is our witness.  We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else." (1 Thessalonians 2:5-6)  A heart purely motivated by obedience to God will not hold any secret agendas or selfish plan.  Instead, it is all about pleasing the Lord.

A heart devoted to pleasing God will obey without question, while one intent on pleasing people will wonder about the impact made or worry about the fallout created.

God or Flesh?

"I don't want to clean my room!  I want to play outside!"  Anyone who has spent time with children recognizes this common attitude.  Children often express their desires, using them as an excuse to get out of chores.  If parents did not exist and kids simply followed their every whim and desire, I can only imagine the chaos that would follow.   While I chuckle at this sentiment, it reveals a serious underlying issue that faces every human.

I am inherently selfish.  My sin nature only focuses on me and my wants, comforts and drives.  If I live to please my flesh, I will, in the words of Paul, "reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. . . Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows."  (Galatians 6:8, 7)

I can't expect good things to come out of my life: wholesome, uplifting, fulfilling and satisfying things, if I'm bent on pleasing myself.  Just as I can't expect to harvest a cucumber if I plant a carrot seed, it would be foolish for me to expect God to bless my life when I'm all about me.

In his letter the the believers at Rome, Paul explained that I can either live according to my own flesh, or follow God's Spirit who dwells within me.  (Romans 8:1-17)  Doing what I want leads toward death, while obeying God takes me on the path of life.  (Psalm 23:1-4)

A heart devoted to pleasing God will follow His lead down peaceful paths, while one focused on my own desires will reap a life of destruction and chaos.

God or My Reputation?

I've heard it said that there are two perceptions of each of us: One being who people think I am, while the other being who I really am.  The former is considered to be my reputation, while the latter is my character.

God deals with truth and reality not with perceptions and facades.  While I may be able to fool people into thinking I'm a pretty okay person, God knows my heart.  He knows me inside and out, understands how I think and even what I'm going to say before I say it.  There is nowhere I can go outside of His presence.  (Psalm 139)  

Despite this intimate knowledge of me and my shortcomings and evil heart, He loves me!  Evidence of this is that He picked me, I didn't choose Him. (John 15:16) Even though there's nothing good within me, (Romans 7:18)  He chose me for His purposes. (Ephesians 2:10)

Why, then, am I so intent on preserving my own reputation?  I want to make sure the things I do fit the perception of what I want others to have of me, or at the very least I don't want to look stupid or silly.  It's easy for me to make decisions based on what will make me look good instead of simply following God.  Or, I can fall into the trap of doing what I think I should do instead of being obedient to my Father.  

As Oswald Chambers taught, "The Holy Spirit expounds the nature of Jesus Christ to me in order to make me one with my Lord, not that I might go off as a showroom exhibit. . . .The spirit that comes in is not that of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight in Him."

My relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ is what matters most:  Whatever He calls me to do or not to do is secondary.  What is most important is how I am related to Him.  If my own desire to look good to others is what is driving me, then it's getting in the way of my connection to Jesus. 

A heart devoted to pleasing God will be focused completely on my relationship with Him, while one concerned with my reputation will hinder my intimacy with Him.

Jesus said it was impossible to serve two masters.  (Matthew 6:24)  Each day, I must ask myself who I desire to satisfy:  It's either God or a myriad of other distractions.  When I commit my heart to pleasing God, I will be able to set aside my tendency to try to impress people, gratify my selfish desires, and worry about my reputation. Then I can pray as David did, "Create in my a clean heart, O God.  Renew a loyal spirit within me. . .Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you."  (Psalm 51:10 &12)

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I will desire to please God above all other things.

When do I let my self-conscious state take me away from existing in a God-conscious position.

How do my desires overpower God's as I go through my day?

A Choice to be Made

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you,

then choose for yourselves this day whom

you will serve whether the gods your forefathers

served beyond the River,

or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.

But as for me and my household,

we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:15

There are so many things vying for our attention in this technologically advanced 21^st Century.  There’s the smart phone we can’t leave home without, the Facebook account that can’t sit unchecked for more than 6 hours, the twitter account that seems so important to keep updated, the blogs that must be followed and the games that must be played.   There’s no doubt that we Americans love our technology.

I may not think I serve these things, but when they demand my attention, how much control do I actually have over the time I spend with them?  If I feel I can’t set it aside for one day, who’s serving whom?

I must fight to keep God in the number one place in my life, otherwise everything else will drown Him out.  But these “things” are not the only threat. 

Family Tradition

We do things out of tradition without a second thought.  I remember hearing the story about the young woman preparing a turkey for her very first Thanksgiving feast.  She defrosted the enormous bird in the sink, just like mom, and carefully covered it with the dish drainer turned upside down.  Her husband asked her why she did that, but she replied, “I don’t know.  That’s just how mom always did it.”  Turns out, her mom perfected this technique as a way to protect the poultry from her nosy cats.  Living in a pet-less home, this step was unnecessary for the daughter, but she did it anyway out of blind tradition. 

What traditions do I continue without a second thought as to whether or not this is glorifying to God?  Some families worship at the altar of the television, keeping it on at all times, never giving God a chance to speak in the quiet, still times of the morning.  Other families have always attended a certain church even though the pastor doesn’t really preach the Word and its more about being seen then being challenged and trained for service in a fallen world.  A number of families follow certain traditions at Christmas time that distract from bringing honor to the Christ Child, but are fun and build lasting memories.

What do I do out of sheer habit, blindly doing what my parents and their parents before them have done for years? 

Choosing to serve the Lord means letting go of practices done out of family custom, and intentionally choosing only those things which glorify Him and put Him in the highest place in my household.

The World

I live in a world that is focused completely on my comfort, entertainment and well-being.  It is easy for me to get sucked into his kind of thinking, focusing on myself as the number one priority.

As a believer, however, Jesus has called me to, “Love the Lord (my) God with all (my) heart and with all (my) soul and with all (my) mind.” (Matthew 22:37) This is kind of hard to do when I’m more concerned with my rights, my comfort and my happiness than I am with loving God.  In this passage, Jesus continued with, “’Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (v 39-40) I can’t go wrong if I keep loving God and others at the center of my attention.

It takes no effort at all to slip into the culture of this world.  The music, movies, television and other forms of entertainment are so readily available and are all around me, ready to amuse me, educate me, and to quench my fleshly thirst.  But as a follower of Christ, I have a choice to make.  James warned us to, “keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)

I don’t need to serve the gods of the culture I live in. 

Instead, I can choose to live in a way that sets me apart from the world while protecting the hearts and minds of myself and my family from taking on the beliefs of this world.  In this way, I am showing God honor in my home.  I am telling Him in a tangible way that His ways are more important to me than my comfort, my happiness, or my fitting in.

Jesus reminded me that, “. . . you don’t belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” (John 15:19) 

Choosing to serve the Lord means only letting things in my home that honor Him, and not getting drawn into the culture around me. 

Choose the Lord

My computer has default settings that are automatically set.  If I don’t intentionally change them, these preset conditions are programmed to exist.  It is the same with me.  My default settings are my fleshly desires, my natural way of doing things, my selfish point of view.

If I want to follow God, I must intentionally change these settings, choosing instead to do things God’s way.  Paul taught in Galatians 5:16 to “. . .live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”  It takes effort to buck my nature, but if I truly desire to do so, I am able to “. . .keep in step with the Spirit.” (v25) I am not powerless against my nature, for I have been given, “a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

It is possible for me to choose the Lord, but I must choose.  Giving Him the first and most honored position in my life is not going to come naturally.

Choosing to serve the Lord means making an effort to give Him the highest place in my thoughts, in my heart and in my home.

There are many things competing for my attention in this world.  If I want to give the Lord my utmost for His highest, I must let go of ungodly traditions, turn my head away from the culture around me and give Him the highest place in my life.

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can put more value in honoring God than in pleasing myself.

How do I put my own comfort and happiness above pleasing God?

Where do I look just like the world around me instead of being the salt of the earth?