I Like Your Dress
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In Economics today, my professor talked about how no two people have the same desires. This is why a lady will ask her friend if she likes a certain dress. The friend will say, “Oh, I do, it looks beautiful.” What she means is, “It looks beautiful on you.” This principle of differing desires (likes/dislikes) has interesting implications to our people-pleasing human natures.
If everyone likes things differently, then our attempts to please others by what we wear, say, or do will ultimately never work. One thing we do may please one person, but not another, so we change in order to look good. That can become frustrating very fast as we end up being hypocritical. This empty pursuit of people-pleasing will never work because people are deeply depraved and they always change. But pleasing God, who cannot change, is possible through the blood of Christ.
I must stop my sin-filled, God-rejecting, worldy attempts to please people, but I must have faith in the unseen, for without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Let us all look to Christ and seek to please Him.
Kind of appropriate since we just came from retreat and it is easy to jump back into the world head first, and crash, instead of looking to Christ alone, the author and perfecter of our faith. Our appetites(desires) are fueled by our passions and as God commanded through Paul to the Thessalonians, we are not to obey our passions like the Gentiles (haters of God), but we are to be sanctified and able to possess our own body. Thanks for your growing love and loyalty to Christ, Micah.
I’m not sure I agree with your professor – perhaps on a material level this is true – but there certainly are universal likes and dislikes – the human mind, for example, recognizes beauty in harmony. Now, even though some cultures think long necks or bolts through your nose are attractive, there are still certain likes and dislikes we all share, no? I think that points to God’s imprint on us.
I’ve been thinking about this post a lot lately as I’ve been waiting on tables. It’s so easy to get into a people-pleaser mode, and I keep reminding myself that I can’t try that–I have to simply work as unto the Lord and try to do my job with excellence. It’s when I have that mindset that I have true joy in my work–although I really do enjoy my work anyway.
Even when I try my best, some people just won’t enjoy their time at my table. I can smile my head off and not get a smile back. I just need to be cheerful for God, and not for man. I can bend over backward to serve them and not get a tip. That’s fine–it’s in God’s hands, and ultimately, I’m working for Him.
(Not to say that bad responses are common, though. The majority of guests are awesome and very sweet.)
Good point also about hypocrisy, too–funny how we can lose ourselves (more importantly, our integrity!) in trying to please others.
Really, even though people-pleasing can come across as unselfish and loving, it really is rooted in self-love. It just really points to God as our only hope, because we are such sinners.