New Study--New Challenges

On Monday nights at church we have a Bible Study group for women called Dwelling Place. We have been meeting for almost a year and a half now and God has done lots of great things in the lives of the women who come as well as my own. We are just beginning a new Beth Moore study called Living Beyond Yourself. It is a study of the fruit of the Spirit so obviously the main verses for the study are Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.


In this first week (since context is always key in Bible study) Beth is doing an overview of the book of Galatians. I just finished day 2, on Galatians ch. 1 which was titled "Pleasing God." Seemed harmless enough but the Lord knew just where I was and just what I need to hear and learn. This lesson was no exception. It was page 17 that hit me over the head with a two by four. That whole page is centered on Gal. 1:10  Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Why did this verse hit me so hard. Couple of reasons, one, it is something that I have struggled with a lot. As a kid I really tried hard to please others. I really didn't like when someone was unhappy with me. Those same behaviors and feelings followed me into adulthood also and got me into serious trouble at times. It is something that I have tried to surrender to the Lord. He is helping me to see the times when I am working to please people and not Him.


The second reason it hit me was because I had fallen into this behavior again just a few days ago, the first night of the study. When you are trying to please people it is impossible to live out the fruit of the Spirit. In the end I gave away my love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I allowed frustration, irritation, pride, selfishness, harshness and all sorts of other things rule over me. It is not a good place to be. In fact, it is a miserable place to be and I couldn't blame anyone but myself. One of the definitions for the Greek word for please is "to accommodate oneself to". How enslaving is that. The only person I want to accommodate myself to is the Lord. So the Lord had to show me again that my job is to please Him and then serve others. There is a world of difference between serving others and pleasing others. I think I need to make myself a little sign for my office that says, "Please God, serve others." Maybe it would be a good reminder for me and God won't have to use as many two by fours on me.