In my photograph above, these sociable Lesser Flamingos seem content to cozy up together and go about their business rubbing shoulders, so to speak, in their daily lives with much familiarity.
Many humans are just like these flamingos; they cannot be alone for any length of time and prefer to be out and about and in the company of others of like mind. That is not really such a bad thing, unless the company they keep are bad associations.
Another thing to consider is the fact that quiet and solitude can be a great blessing, especially if you spend a good part of that quiet time in prayer, worship, and Bible reading and studying.
We have a choice: please the good Lord by having quality time with Him and other Christians, or pleasing friends and family that may not be true believers in Jesus Christ as the Savior, and thereby "going along with them" in questionable conduct. True, we need to spend time with unbelievers in order to witness to them about Jesus and the Gospel, but not at the expense of our own standing with God by becoming ungodly along with them.
"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." - Galatians 1:10
The desire to be popular and to win praise from others affects everyone, almost, to some extent; that goes for adults as well as for teenagers. So to become popular and to fit in, many persons become "people pleasers".
Those who try to be popular with the world, will lose his popularity with the Lord. He will make friends, but he will lose the one Friend Who is above all others. He will win approval from men, but he will not hear the "Well done" from the Lord. Remember, "No one can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24). It is vain to try to keep in favor with both God and with the world. "Pleasing men and serving Christ are incompatible."
The above meerkats are also a sociable bunch. There is nothing wrong with Christians being sociable; we need to be that way in order to win souls to Christ. The Holy Spirit does the "winning", but we do the witnessing and the proclaiming of the Gospel so with Scriptures we are able to spread the Word as we ought.
"The soul that cannot entirely trust God, whether man be pleased or displeased, can never long be true to Him, for while you are eyeing men you are losing God and stabbing religion at the very heart." - T. Manton
George Macdonald said: "When one has learned to seek the honor that cometh from God only, he will take the withholding of the honor that cometh by man very lightly indeed."
The above quote by Macdonald is the cure for all inclinations of men-pleasing. Seek approval first from the one true God, Yahweh. Then you will not need the applause from men by striving to please them. We are the servants of God/Jesus and we should not forget that fact.
"How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?" - Jesus at John 5:44 (KJV)
"Needing God plus something else is the trouble with us." - A.W. Tozer
"Modern Christians feel too much at home in the world." - A.W. Tozer
In the King James Version of the Bible, James 4:4 tells us: "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
James 4:4 is speaking of spiritual adultery and about those who love the world rather than God.
This article is rather blunt in its truth, but we all need the truth and not sugar-coated or watered down doctrine. Even pastors can be guilty in this area. I find it true what Martin Luther said in the following quote:
"To this day you will find many who seek to please men in order that they may live in peace and security. They teach whatever is agreeable to men, no matter whether it is contrary to God's Word or their own conscience. But we who endeavor to please God and not men, stir up hell itself. We must suffer reproach, slanders, death."
The apostle Paul no doubt felt, "The question is not of gaining over men, but of standing right with God, and that even at the expense of an absolute breach with men."
Bondage to man or to Christ - we each have to choose.
"All the paths of the Lord are mercy and steadfast love, even truth and faithfulness are they for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies." - Psalm 25:10
"If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." - Jesus at John 15:19
Have a blessed and Christ-centered weekend..... and life!
