Do I seek to please men?  That is the question Paul asked in Galatians 1:10.  He asked it with the preaching of the gospel in mind.  This is a great question for all who preach the gospel to ask themselves.  It is critical that our aim is always to please the Lord and not man.  Paul tells us what it means if we are striving to please men in our preaching.

Galatians 1:10 (NKJV)
¹⁰  For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

As preachers, we are servants of Christ.  He came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10), and now He accomplishes that work through earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7).  If our main objective is to please men, we are not serving Christ at all.  We are serving the ones we are striving to please.

Much error has been taught and much truth has been ignored by preachers who have become more interested in pleasing men than God.  If you preach the gospel in any capacity, always remember that your job is not to make people happy, feel good, or to praise you.  Your job is to preach the Word.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 (NKJV)
¹  I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: ²  Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ³  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ⁵  But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Preachers are not the only ones who must avoid the desire to please men.  All Christians must watch out for this.  The temptation to impress our peers, even at the sacrifice of the will of God, is strong.  It is one of the reasons that many so-called Christians too often adopt the habits of the world rather than live by the high standard of the gospel.  To them conforming to the world is easier, more comfortable, and in the end, they receive more praise from men than they would living a God-pleasing lifestyle.

Let us not be pharisaical.  No one sought to please men more than the Pharisees.  They were constantly doing things just to be seen by men.  Jesus warned future citizens of the kingdom about this.

Matthew 6:1 (ESV)
¹  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

The only reason one would go around telling others about all the good works he does is that he cares too much about what others think.  That mentality will cause a person to do all he can to please those around him and turn him into their servant, even if those he is trying so hard to impress do not realize it.  That is why Paul said if he was trying to please men, he would not be a servant of Christ, nor will we.

Let’s all realize who we should be striving to please in life.  Jesus lived a morally perfect life because He always did what was pleasing to His Father (John 8:29).  We should have the same aim.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.