“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Paul to the Galatians
Christianity is a free will offering of oneself to Christ. The focus of that life is Christ and how we might please Him. We are not required to please any other. All the world has ideas about how a “real Christian” ought to live. They do not understand that none of their opinions are binding upon us or Christ. Neither are those opinions a valid measure of how well we are succeeding in pleasing Christ at any given moment.
Unfortunately, many Christians do not understand the concept either. They live as though we must make the world like us; to cater to the world that we might woo them. They are constantly on guard to never give anyone offense lest that person turn from God’s salvation. I sometimes wonder, do these people really believe their actions are capable of thwarting the work of the Holy Spirit?
A person who hears the call of Christ and desires the salvation God offers cannot be kept from it by any power in heaven or earth. In like fashion, any person seeking a reason to refuse God will find one and lay the fault at God’s feet (or those of His people).
Christ became flesh and blood to do the will of God the Father—period. That will of God encompassed a demonstration of God’s love in the form of being crucified to purchase the salvation of the world. In the ultimate moment of decision, “thy will, not mine” decided the issue.
The prophet Isaiah said Christ has no form nor comeliness and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. While Jesus was a people person, He was not a people pleaser. He commanded people to leave their lives and follow Him. He told scholars that they didn’t know what they were talking about. He called one of His own disciples Satan and another the son of perdition. He regularly chastised people for their lack of faith and their fear. He refused to go along to get along.
To this day, He still calls on people to do things they don’t want to do, say things they don’t want to say, and go places they don’t want to go. And why? Because the will of Christ is still the salvation of the world and God would not that any should perish.
He is love on His terms and only His terms. This offends some people. So be it. If my service to Christ causes others to be uncomfortable or offended, let them go to God and complain. I have been corrected by the Holy Spirit more times than I care to mention. I prefer that correction to being chided by Christ for my failure to serve His will.

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