Lesson #25

You can't live your life trying to please people.

Well, you could, but what kinda life would that be? A frustrated one, a resentful one? We watched Alice in Wonderland today, and Alice was told that she couldn't live her life trying to please people. She had a choice - what was she going to choose?

I had always thought that I did things because other people wanted me to. There were expectations that I felt I needed to meet. Now, whether people saw that or not, I'm not sure. But that's how I felt. And at one point in my life, I completely stopped doing what others wanted me to - they were trying to help me, but I, like a child, ran in the completely opposite direction. I was at point that I would not listen to a single word because I had always done what everyone else wanted. That's the funny thing - they were trying to help me, guide me in my choices, but it was time for me to start doing what "I" wanted no matter what the cost. I, selfishly, followed not God's ways, but my ways. I was done pleasing people but in a completely wrong way.

Now knowing God, knowing Him more than I ever have in my life - I don't want to please people. I want to please God. I want to do things that please Him. I want to live my life for Him - no matter what the cost.

"If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" Matthew 16:24-26