I Ain’t Tripping Over You

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”— Galatians 1:10

Respectfully—I ain’t tripping over you.

I know it’s not proper English, but it just felt better writing it that way. 

There’s an old story about a man, his son, and a donkey.

The man and his son are riding the donkey when they pass a group of people who begin criticizing them.

“That poor donkey! Surely carrying both of them is too much!”

So the father gets off the donkey and lets his son ride.

Then they pass another group.

“How awful! That young boy is riding while his older father has to walk!”

So the boy gets down and the father gets on the donkey.

And wouldn't you know it—they pass another group of people who have something to say about that too.

“What kind of father makes his son walk while he rides?”

At this point, somebody might as well ask the donkey what he wants because apparently nobody can win. 

The moral of the story is simple:

You cannot please everybody.

And if I could add something to it:

You shouldn't want to.

People-pleasing is exhausting.

One person wants you to do this.
Another wants you to do that.
One group thinks you're too much.
Another thinks you're not doing enough.

If you allow everybody's opinion to determine how you live, you'll spend your life adjusting yourself for people who will probably still find something to complain about.

But as believers, the approval of people was never supposed to be our ultimate goal.

Our goal is to honor God.

In Galatians 1, Paul was defending the gospel of Jesus Christ because people were attempting to distort it. He makes his position clear:

Am I trying to please people, or am I trying to please God?

Because when it comes to truth, Paul understood that he couldn't change the message just to make people more comfortable.

Neither can we.

Following Jesus will sometimes mean disappointing people.

It may mean someone doesn't understand your boundaries.

It may mean a friendship changes.

It may mean somebody thinks you've become “too serious” about Jesus.

It may mean you're no longer invited into certain spaces because you've decided there are things you simply won't participate in anymore.

And yes, it may mean offending someone.

Not because you're intentionally rude.

Not because you walk around looking for opportunities to hurt people's feelings.

Not because being a Christian gives us permission to be mean.

Absolutely not.

We are called to love people.

But loving people and pleasing people are not the same thing.

Love tells the truth.

Obedience can create discomfort.

And sometimes following Jesus means being willing to lose people rather than lose your conviction.

But I would rather lose your approval than compromise my obedience to Jesus.

That's not mean.

That's priority.

I sometimes hear believers say, “Be careful. You don't want to offend unbelievers.”

And yes, we should be careful about how we represent Christ. Our attitude matters. Our words matter. Our delivery matters. We should never use truth as an excuse to be arrogant, disrespectful, or unnecessarily harsh.

But we also cannot become so concerned about making people comfortable that we become ashamed of the very gospel that saved us.

Jesus is not asking us to be obnoxious.

He's asking us to be faithful.

There is a difference.

We don't have to scream.

We don't have to argue.

We don't have to beat anybody over the head with a Bible.

But we also don't have to shrink Jesus down so He fits comfortably inside somebody else's preferences.

So respectfully—

I ain't tripping over you.

I love you.

I'll pray for you.

I'll treat you with kindness.

I'll respect you.

But your approval cannot become more important to me than God's.

People will change their minds.

People will misunderstand you.

People will applaud you today and criticize you tomorrow.

But God?

He's the One we're living for.

Be the salt.

Be the light.

But don’t exhaust yourself trying to please everybody.

Put that energy toward Christ and the gospel.

All things should be done in love, but never in compromise.