Why We Put Our Efforts Towards Pleasing God Instead of Man

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism." Colossians 3:23-25

The rules for Christian households in Colossians echoes what we have already seen in our study of Ephesians as far as husbands and wives. Wives are to submit to their husbands. Husbands are to love their wives and not be harsh with them. It further goes on to say children should obey their parents in everything and fathers should not embitter their children.

But verses 23-25 tell us that we are to do this as work for the Lord. We are serving him. So whatever we are doing, is to be for him. Whatever we think of others, it is not our place to decide who is worthy or unworthy of our efforts; because it is not for them, but for God that we do these things.

I personally feel that doing things for God helps me by allowing me to let go of any bitterness or resentment. I don't have to carry around a lot of baggage and hard feelings that drag me down. It lightens my load to know that I am not responsible for those big decisions. All I have to do is what God told me to do and that is to do everything with my heart, with love for the Lord.

How freeing is it to be able to just focus on God and everything else will fall into place? It seems so simple, yet a lifetime of conditioning can make it difficult at times to just let things lie. Sometimes my past friends and family experiences remind me of a quote from the movie "Steel Magnolias". Maybe you remember when Clairee says, "Well, you know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me!" I loved growing up in the South, but it really was a gossip-fest around the house at times and everyone knew everyone else's business.

The point is, you can't please everyone anyway. God demands certain behavior from us and the wants of man don't always correspond. So instead of being people pleasers, we should be working for the Lord.

Resources
Day 104 - Minding Our Words; Minding Our Thoughts

Bible Gateway -Colossians Quote

Wikiquote - Steel Magnolias Quote