The question is ultimately one of allegiance: Whose approval are we seeking? Whom are we trying to please? For the Christian, our first concern is not the approval of others—or even confidence in ourselves—but faithfulness to God.
“My endeavor has been to please God, not man.”
— John Chrysostom, Commentary on Galatians 1:10
Much later, C. S. Lewis captured something similar in Mere Christianity:
“Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book III, Chapter 10, “Hope.”
When pleasing God is our first concern, we are freed from making the approval of others our aim. Instead of looking to people for what only God can provide, we learn to depend upon Him—and from that dependence, to love others and seek their true good. But when pleasing people becomes our first concern, we lose sight of both. As Lewis reminds us, when we aim first at Heaven, everything else finds its proper place.
This is a lesson I deeply desire to grow in—and one I suspect takes a lifetime to fully learn.
