So the father got off and the boy got on the donkey. People then said, “How terrible, this strong man walking and the little boy sitting.”
So they both got on the donkey’s back, but then others remarked: “How terrible, two people sitting on one donkey.”
So they both got off the donkey. Then people said, “This is crazy! The donkey has nothing on his back and two people are walking.”
When they arrived at the market, they were both carrying the donkey!
If we always allow ourselves to be influenced by what others think and say, we may find ourselves “carrying the donkey” more often than we like. Is your life being crippled because you’re carrying too many “donkeys”?
We really are under no obligation to please everyone, and that’s good because making sure everyone is happy all the time about everything we do is an impossible task. In fact, it is so impossible that we cause ourselves a great deal of unnecessary stress and heartache when we attempt it!
We might even find that pleasing others interferes with pleasing God. Paul wrote the Galatians, “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).
In another place, Paul wrote, “We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4). He wasn’t saying that we should never be concerned about pleasing others. It’s just that on some subjects and in some areas of our lives our primary consideration should always be doing what pleases God. Ephesians 5:10 admonishes us to “find out what pleases the Lord.”
According to Scripture, we do this in two primary ways. First, we please God by believing Him and what He has said. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Second, we please God by obeying what He has said. 1 John 3:22 gives us the basis for this: “And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.”
So make others happy when you can, but let your primary goal be to please God. After all, He’s the One Who really counts.
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com