Trying to please people can be hurtful
- Kyle Snyder: Live on Purpose
- September 18, 2023
- 562
“The disease to please.”– Oprah Winfrey
I know people who just waste their life trying to please other people. How sad!
When I talk about pleasing people I don’t mean helping, being nice or going out of our way to be helpful within reason. We should be helpful and kind to all, but sometimes we give an inch and people take a mile. I even know people who love helping others if they get something out of it. There however can be one problem with helping others, if we help others to try to please them.
Let’s take a short test to see if we are a people pleaser or not, it is only one question. When we make a decision that only involves us, is one of the top five questions we ask ourselves, what will people think? If the answer is ‘yes,’ then you are a people pleaser. The two things we should ask are what would people think is when we ask what would God think, or if we do things with a group. Ask God what He thinks, because, He might have a better way. When we are in a group we should have the rest of the people in mind.
When Stacey and I got married, we renovated our bathroom. The toilet was a small old toilet, it had to go. My dad told me that he would set it in the backyard and haul it away when he can. Stacey and I told him to put it in the flower bed. Dad smiled and asked if we are going to fill it with dirt and put flowers in the bowl. That is actually what we did. What about the sink? It is our bird bath.
What do the neighbors think of the flower pot and the birdbath? Two things: it is our house and not theirs, and they love it. Now, some people who are reading this probably wonder what is wrong with them. For the other 90% who are laughing, no one is making people re-read this or look at our flower bed. Yes, my parents did raise me right. If I would go around worrying about what other people think, then I would question how I was raised.
We all have to decide who are we going to please, people or God. Maybe some people will say God, but their actions say people. See, people will not always agree with us or be pleased with us. I promise, we won’t die if some people turn up their noses at us. No one told God that He must be in the people pleasing business.
People who try to please others can be self-centered. They think the world revolves around them. Let me tell you the cold hard truth, those people who we are trying to please, they are not even paying attention. Why? Because they are to busy trying to please us! Think about it, and please start enjoying your life.