Pleasing Our Neighbor

Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor. (Romans 15:2, NRSV)

Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. (Galatins 1:10, NLT)

Truth be told: The Bible confuses me sometimes. The two verses above, for example. Am I supposed to please people or not? I want to be God’s servant, so how do I know what to do?

The solution: read the verses in context.

In the Romans passage, Paul is speaking to the issue of putting the needs of others first. This is most clear when he uses the example of Jesus putting the needs of others before his own and is echoed in his writing to the Philippians (see Philippians 2:5-8).

On the other hand, Paul’s words to the Galatians referred to his motivation for preaching. If his message was merely “pleasing” or entertaining instead of edifying the listener and glorifying to God, then he would cease to fulfill his calling and fail to be God’s servant. Paul refers back to this in his other correspondence to the churches and to Timothy (see 2 Timothy 4:2).

I think this tension can be a struggle for writers and speakers. Who do we please, reader, congregation, editor, agent, publisher…God?

We would all probably agree that God is primary, but what about the rest? Where do we find balance?

Doing the loving thing for and to my neighbor, or audience, will build their faith and please God. God asks no more and no less.

PRAYER: Let my words and actions demonstrate my desire to please you, God, and in the process strengthen the faith of my neighbor. Amen.