I’m not sure when it happened, but it is pretty much understood that pleasing someone else is a negative thing. You know, “doing the will” of another. US News recently said this about the practice. “It can erode your sense of integrity — and you can start feeling bad about yourself.” If your motivation for pleasing someone is because you care too much about what others think of you or if you’re always searching for the approval from others, then it can be negative and destructive.
So, I not talking about losing your identity or finding your ultimate worth in pleasing someone else, but it seems to me that there is a high calling delighting or pleasing others.
If you’re part of the church, you’ve heard for years that we should “Delight ourselves in the Lord” from Psalm 37:4. Or you might know that 2 Corinthians 2:15 says, “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” Even Jesus said, “I can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.”
Let me just encourage you today that when your focus moves from yourself to others with a genuine interest in pleasing them (which usually involves serving them) every one wins. Everyone is encouraged…including you.