I once took a DISC behavioral assessment for work. When I got the results, I was shocked as to how right it was. It told me that I was enthusiastic, optimistic, people oriented and fun. It even said I have the tendency to light up a room when I walk in. However, as I kept reading it revealed some less flattering things about me. It said that my biggest vulnerability is that I need to be liked and seek approval from others. The same wiring that gave me a magnetic personality also had the potential to be my downfall. I started thinking of moments where I wanted to stand up and say something, or knew that I needed to put a stop to it, but I let my desire to be liked cause me to be quiet or to give in. My personality wasn’t the problem or to be blamed. It’s what I choose to do in those moments. I have the ability to override those feelings and to stand up for what’s right. Knowing how I’m wired has helped me since, but it isn’t easy.
In Exodus 32 moses went up Mount Sinai to meet with God to receive the Ten Commandments. While he was up there, he left Aaron, the High Priest, in charge. The people started to wonder what was taking Moses so long and demanded that Aaron make them a god. Instead of standing up for what was right, he asked them to give him the gold that Egypt had given them when they left. He melted it down and created a golden calf. When he saw the people were pleased, he built an altar for it so the people could make sacrifices to it. When Moses came back down and confronted him about it, that same people pleaser said that the people gave him gold, he simply threw it in the fire and out came that calf. Moses then asked the people to choose if they were on God’s side or not and forced people to decide to choose what was right or what was popular.
In Galatians 1:10 Paul wrote, “I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant” (NLT). We are all faced with this choice. The world has learned to frame the conversation that if you side with what God says that you hate people, you’re a bad person or you’re some sort of bad name. The question is if you will choose to please the crowd or stand up for what is true. Are you seeking the approval of people or of God? What people believe and hold true changes with culture, but God’s Word doesn’t. Like Moses asked the people that day, we must decide if we are on God’s side or not. We can’t make it our goal to please people.
Photo by Nejc Šinkovec on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 