Opening Questions

  • What motivates you? (Hint: don’t always go with your first response…)
  • Are you more motivated to please people or to please God?
  • Do you believe it’s possible to care more about pleasing God than pleasing people?

Bible Study

What’s the driving force in your life?

Do you think I care about the approval of men or about the approval of God? Do you think I am on a mission to please people? If I am still spinning my wheels trying to please men, then there is no way I can be a servant of the Anointed One, the Liberating King.

Galatians 1:10 (VOICE)

  • Who do you care about pleasing the most?
  • The answer to this question does not necessarily lie in how you feel, but in the priorities in your life.
  • What do the priorities in your life teach you about your motivation?
  • Who do you make time for?

Why do you do what you do?

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

Matthew 23:5-7 (NIV)

  • The religious leaders in the days of Jesus often found themselves at odds with Jesus. One of the truths that they had difficulty admitting was just how consumed they were with what people thought of them.
  • Are you willing to explore the motivation behind what you do?
  • How much of what you do is simply done for people to see?

What your fears should teach you…

Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. 43 For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.

John 12:42-43 (NLT)

  • What should your fears teach you? Our fears reveal what we truly love and cherish!
  • Because the leaders in this passage loved human praise more than the praise of God, fear of people dominated their life.
  • We aren’t simply victims of our fears. We choose what or who we will love the most.

If you are afraid of people, it will trap you. But if you trust in the Lord, he will keep you safe.

Proverbs 29:25 (NIRV)

  • How is fear of people trapping you?
  • What would trusting God look like in your life right now?

What may be behind your lack of faith?

41 “I do not accept praise from human beings. 42 But I know you. I know that you do not have love for God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me. But if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 You accept praise from one another. But you do not seek the praise that comes from the only God. So how can you believe?

John 5:41-44 (NIRV)

  • What’s the connection between accepting human praise and loving God?
  • Whose praise do you seek the most?
  • How do you think your desire to please people affects your faith in God?

The secret behind pleasing God

And without faith living within us it would be impossible to please God. For we come to God in faith knowing that he is real and that he rewards the faith of those who give all their passion and strength into seeking him.

Hebrews 11:6 (TPT)

  • How important is faith to our relationship with God?
  • Do you think you have been putting all your passion and strength into seeking God?
  • How can you begin working on your faith today?
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This article was created by a member of the Deep Spirituality editorial team.

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This article was created by a member of the Deep Spirituality editorial team.

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