Refuse to Live Your Life Trying Pleasing Men

Daily Devotional

Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

What is the benefit of trying to please people when it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you cannot please everybody? Furthermore, the record shows that the benefit of staying in favour with God far outweighs the costs associated with pleasing men over God.

The great men and women of the scriptures never got to where they were by trying to please men. If Daniel was trying to please men he would not have found himself in the Lion’s den for praying to God 3 times a day. Likewise, the 3 Hebrew boys would not have been thrown into the fiery furnace for not bowing down to the golden image nor would Joseph have been wrongfully accused by Potiphar’s wife.  The main reason we may opt to please men rather than God is because as was the case for the bible characters just mentioned, choosing to please God rather than men may come at a great price. However, there is no way around it, you must resolve that  you will please God whatever the cost.

In Acts 5, Peter and the apostles were forced to decide whether they would please God or men.  They decided to please God and their choice was put to the test by them being placed in prison for teaching in the name of Jesus. In response God used an angel to release them and instructed them to go to the temple and teach again in the name of Jesus. After this Peter and the apostles were brought back before the council of high priests and asked by them if they were not told before to not teach in the name of Jesus; to which Peter and the apostles replied, in Acts 5:29 “we ought to obey God and not men”. By their response they had made the resolve to please God rather than men whatever the cost.  

If you intend to be a standout in the kingdom of God, you must follow a similar path as Peter and the other apostles. In the end it will be worth it as the benefit of staying in favour with God far outweighs the price that one will have to pay in choosing to please God over men.

Life Application: Make pleasing God your first priority regardless of the cost.

Prayer: Lord, I resolve to please you and not man. Help me to never put others before you. In Jesus name, amen.