Pleasing God, Not Men

" For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts." 1 Thessalonians 2:4

Sinners don't want to hear that they are sinners. The last thing that a group of hard-hearted teens want to hear is that they are all sinners, and that what they are doing is wrong. Sometimes though, that's just what they need to hear. It can be really hard as Christians to share the Good News with other people who need to hear it. One of those reasons is that it is human nature to want people to like us. When I am meeting someone new for the first time, or having lunch with someone I don't know very well, I want them to like me. In the case of an unsaved person, I want them to get to know me and get to like me more so that eventually I can work on saving them. So often, if the discussion of church comes up, I will just gloss over the surface. I'll share a little bit, but certainly not enough to make someone uncomfortable.

I can't help but wonder if this is the wrong thing to be doing. It's like wooing- you're wooing someone, trying to make them comfortable with you before pouncing and telling them they are a sinner and going to hell for forever. If you think of the negative consequences, the plan can totally backfire, and the new friend can feel betrayed. At that point, you may lose both a friend and a soul for Jesus. Wouldn't it be better and more to the point to start off the friendship with a statement of faith? That person may want to know more about both you and your faith if you start off in that vein. We need to please God first, and sometimes that means sharing a message that doesn't want to be heard. Maybe this new acquaintance needs to be told straight out that their lifestyle isn't pleasing to God, and it needs to change.

I suppose part of this is paying attention to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. As long as pleasing God is our number one purpose, we can listen for the Holy Spirit to guide our words, and guide our conversation towards what the person sitting across from us needs to hear. "He alone examines the motives of our hearts." As long as we keep our purpose clear, and approach other people with an open heart and an open mind, we can let God work through us- he knows us best, and knows the other person best and knows what they need to hear.