Copyright by Freedom in Christ, used with permission.
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10
Have you ever planned a major fun event and then asked yourself, "Are we having fun yet?" Big events and expensive outings can, of course, be fun, but sometimes all the planning and details means that the fun just evaporates. Chances are that the last time you really had fun, it came from some spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment activity or event.
Fun comes when we spontaneously throw off our inhibitions and are simply ourselves. One of the main things that holds us back – especially as Christians – is our fleshly tendency to keep up appearances. We don't want to look out of place or be thought less of by others, so we stifle our spontaneity with a form of false decorum. That's people-pleasing. And Paul suggests in this verse that anybody who lives to please people isn't serving Christ.
When David got the ark of the covenant back which had been stolen by the Philistines, he was so happy that he leapt and danced before the Lord in celebration. His wife, Michal, was embarrassed by his behaviour and told him so in no uncertain terms. David said, “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this” (2 Samuel 6:21–22). He was focused solely on God. And we too will find a lot more pleasure in living to please God than in trying to please other people.
Being free in Christ is fun! It means that we are free to be ourselves. We're free from our past, free from trying to live up to other people's expectations, free from sin and the evil one. What a joyful, uninhibited, spontaneous life for those who are free in Christ!
