~Caring vs. People Pleaser~

My friend posted something on Facebook that got me thinking. Here is what she said: ”One of the greatest emotional freedoms is truly not caring what anyone else thinks of you.”

That can be a VERY conflicting statement! After reading in Galatians today…I believe that statement needs to be re-worded to say “One of the greatest emotional freedoms is truly not being a people pleaser.”

Galatians 1:10 (NLT) says “Obviously I’m not trying to be a people pleaser!  No, I am trying to please God.  If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant.”

One of the comments made back to her post was, “the only way to truly not care what someone thinks is to not care about them....or am I wrong????”

Being a “people pleaser” and “caring what anyone else thinks” of us are two totally different issues. I think we get the two mixed up sometimes. I feel we should take into consideration other people’s feelings, we should care!

Are we in line with what God want's us to be doing?  Are we pleasing Him or the people around us? Remember, we may be the ONLY “bible” some people ever read, so we need to be careful! If we’re reading God’s word and walking the walk then others will know and say, I want what she has! But if we’re living in sin,  and it’s obvious to our friends and peers, then maybe we need a reality check so we can change it! Do you want to be a stumbling block for someone else? I know I've not always made the right choices and if I've ever been that stumbling block for you...please forgive me.

I DO care what others think about me and I need to be careful of the choices I make which may impact their life in a negative way. I also struggle with being a people pleaser but I’ve been working VERY hard on pleasing Christ first! As long as we’re pleasing Him and in line with His will the rest will work itself out.