Whom Will We Please

There comes a time when we have to stop trying to please others and just tell the truth. But we must make sure it is God’s truth and not what we may feel, and it should always be connected to Kingdom of God business.

This was what Elihu said when He spoke as one of Job’s counselors.

“I will show partiality to no one, nor will I flatter any man; for if I were skilled in flattery, my Maker would soon take me away” (Job 32:21-22)

Elihu was the youngest and had patiently waited his turn as he heard his colleagues condemn Job without cause and Job’s response to each of them. But when his turn came he wasn’t going to play into either camp; rather he was going to give God’s counsel.

If Elihu speaks for God he cannot try to please others or to use flattery just to get a hearing. If he does then he knows that God, in whom he speaks for, will remove His counsel from him, and remove him from speaking God’s words to others.

Elihu wasn’t going to be influenced by any worldly standards, that is, by a person’s rank, age, wealth, or friendship. Instead he would speak the truth impartially and with the freedom knowing that he only has one person to please, and that is God.

The Apostle Paul knew this truth as well. He knew that it was God in whom he must please in what he said, not those to whom he was speaking.

“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10)

“On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.” (1 Thessalonians 2:4)

Whom will we please?