Who are you trying to please? Trying to please people – including ourselves – provides one of life’s greatest frustrations.  Trying to please a group compounds the frustration.  Pleasing others is frustrating because it is impossible to accomplish.  Once you capitulate to someone’s conditions, you find they bar has moved and they desire you to do something further to please them.

We can say the same about trying to please ourselves.  What we think we want usually does not ultimately satisfy.  The truth is that we will never be satisfied with what we want until we are satisfied with what we have.  Self-satisfaction works for a period of time, but ultimately the newness wears off and what we thought was the secret to our satisfaction becomes another in our roster of mundane and unsatisfying.

So what do we do?  Stop seeking to please others and/or ourselves and devote ourselves to pleasing God.  God is easier to please than are others, and pleasing Him yields much greater benefit.  In fact, we find that we are most pleased when we please God.

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. – Galatians 1:10

…try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. – Ephesians 5:10

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him (God). – 2 Corinthians 5:9

Read God’s Word regularly to learn what He desires of you.  Let Scripture be your guide as you seek God and His desire for your life.  As you obey Him by obeying His Word, He will grow increasing pleased with you and you will find great pleasure in Him.  Quit trying to please others and yourself, and please the one who matters most. The road home will be much smoother.

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. – Colossians 1:9-10