1 Thessalonians 2:3-8
3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed -- God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
In verse 4 Paul says that he spoke "not to please man, but to please God". When we try to please men, we become susceptible to peer pressure, date pressure, and influences from our sex-saturated media. The common theme is that we lower our standards to "fit in" with others. But if we keep our focus on pleasing God and getting our acceptance from Him, then we will be better able to make choices for purity. Recovery involves not just changing some behaviors, but a change in goals and desires, out of which then flows the changed behaviors.
Lord, help me to please You, and to care more about You than about what others think.
3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed -- God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
In verse 4 Paul says that he spoke "not to please man, but to please God". When we try to please men, we become susceptible to peer pressure, date pressure, and influences from our sex-saturated media. The common theme is that we lower our standards to "fit in" with others. But if we keep our focus on pleasing God and getting our acceptance from Him, then we will be better able to make choices for purity. Recovery involves not just changing some behaviors, but a change in goals and desires, out of which then flows the changed behaviors.
Lord, help me to please You, and to care more about You than about what others think.