As part of our “Favorite Bible Verse” series, I got to share the verse that’s stuck with me for years: Galatians 1:10.
“Obviously, I am not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” (NLT)
I first came across this verse not long after I recommitted my life to Jesus. I’d picked my Bible back up, started actually reading it, and this verse jumped off the page at a moment when I was wrestling with a career change and a lifelong habit of people-pleasing. It’s been an anchor for me ever since.
Why Paul wrote it
Paul wrote Galatians to a group of churches that had started drifting from the gospel. Some were telling new believers that faith in Jesus wasn’t enough, that they also needed to follow Old Testament law to be saved. Paul wasn’t going to soften that message just to keep the peace. Verse 10 is him saying it plainly: he wasn’t writing to make people happy. He was writing to be faithful to God.
Why it matters for the rest of us
Most of us aren’t preachers, but all of us feel the pull to please people over God. It shows up in small ways and big ones:
- A friend or coworker asking you to cover for them, or look the other way on something you know isn’t right
- Feeling caught between two people or two “sides” in a conflict, and the pressure to pick one
- Even mistaking your own wants for God’s leading, especially in a big decision
That last one is worth sitting with. It’s possible to genuinely believe you’re following God and still be off track. A few honest questions have helped me:
- Is this biblical, both what I’m doing and how I’m doing it?
- What’s my real motivation? Am I reacting to something, or am I the only one who benefits?
- What do the people who know me and love me think?
None of that replaces listening to God, but it’s a check against fooling myself.
The takeaway
When you belong to Jesus, you’re not your own anymore. That’s good news; it means you don’t have to carry the weight of pleasing everyone around you. Your first loyalty is to God, even when that’s unpopular, even when it’s hard.
So here’s the question I keep asking myself, and I hope you will too: Who am I really trying to please?
Get that right, and everything else tends to fall into place.
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