Topic: Focus on Pleasing God, Not People [RICK WARREN Devotional 15 November 2024]
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Focus on Pleasing God, Not People
by Rick Warren — November 15, 2024
“Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”
1 Thessalonians 2:4 (NLT)
God made you to be you. He didn’t make you to be what your parents want you to be. He didn’t make you to be what your spouse, boss, or friends want you to be.
God wants you to be exactly who he created you to be. That means you have to refuse to be defined by others.
Hebrews 11:24 says, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (NIV).
Moses had an identity crisis. He was born a Hebrew slave but raised as Egyptian royalty, the grandson of Pharaoh. When he grew up, he had two choices: He could pretend to be Pharaoh’s grandson for the rest of his life and live with luxury, fame, and power.
Or he could admit who he really was, the son of a Hebrew slave. If he did, his family would kick him out to live with Hebrew slaves the rest of his life. He would be disgraced and humiliated and live a life of pain and drudgery.
Which would you choose?
Most people today are living lies. They’re trying to be people they’re not. But Moses—because he was a man of integrity—refused to live a lie. Against all kinds of peer pressure, he insisted on being who God made him to be.
Here’s my question: Who are you letting determine your identity?
Maybe you have parents who died years ago, but you’re still trying to live up to their expectations. Maybe you’re hanging on to what your ex-husband or ex-wife said to you, and you’re trying to prove that person wrong. Maybe you’re trying to keep up with what the culture says you should be.
But the Bible says this: “Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4 NLT).
Choose to be who God made you to be. Simply say, “I resolve to no longer let other people press me into their mold. I’m going to do what God wants me to do and fulfill the plan he has for my life—not somebody else’s plan for my life.”
God wants you to be exactly who he created you to be and nothing more. Friend, that is real success in life.
Talk It Over
- Who or what is pressuring you to be someone you are not?
- Spend some time writing down who you are in Jesus Christ. How does he define your identity?
- How can you discover and begin to live as exactly who God made you to be?
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