Week of April 2, 2001
Debbie B.

". . . . If I were still pleasing people,
I would not be a servant of Christ."
     Galatians

Wow this is a tough one!

I tend to look at myself as a people pleaser. I like to see smiles, and feel pats on the back for making people happy. I warm in the glow of appreciation, and no one likes a compliment more then I do. There is really nothing wrong with that. It comes from the mutual building up of one another, and Christ encourages us to love one another.

Sometimes in my life though, this people pleasing thing goes too far and I compromise the principles of my faith. When that happens I do not feel warm and glowing, I feel dirty and ashamed. That is the kind of people pleasing that does not come from the mutual building up of one another. That is the kind of people pleasing that comes from sin. If I politely laugh at an off color joke, or sit quietly by when people make racist comments, if I participate in negative conversations, or initiate disparaging remarks about my neighbor, I may be pleasing the people who surround me, but I certainly am not building up the body of Christ.

These are the times in my life when I have to stop the people pleasing. I have to go to God and ask for his forgiveness, and I have to ask for his help to keep me from participating in this type of destructive behavior.

For me this devotion is a confession of a behavior that has lately become quite disturbing to me. Now that I recognize this behavior, I pray that God will help me, to have the courage to stop laughing at inappropriate humor, to stop sitting in numb silence when racism raises its ugly head, and to stop tearing down my neighbor when Christ clearly is calling me to build up the body of Christ. Amen.

Contributed by Debra B.
Published Monday April 2, 2001
Week 19 of Liturgical Year C