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Doing Service as to the Lord, and Not to Men

Miss Linda

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Pleasing God
by Dr. Paul Chappell

"Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free."
Ephesians 6:6-8

Rather than listening to what a critic says about your life, listen to what God says about your life.

An old fable that has been passed down for generations tells about an elderly man who was traveling with a boy and a donkey. As they walked through a village, the man was leading the donkey and the boy was walking behind. The townspeople said the old man was a fool for not riding, so to please them he climbed up on the animal's back. When they came to the next village, the people said the old man was cruel to let the child walk while he enjoyed the ride. So, to please them, he got off and set the boy on the animal's back and continued on his way. In the third village, people accused the child of being lazy for making the old man walk, and the suggestion was made that they both ride. So the man climbed on and they set off again. In the fourth village, the townspeople were indignant at the cruelty to the donkey because he was made to carry two people. The frustrated man was last seen carrying the donkey down the road. The moral of the story? We can't please everybody, and if we try we end up carrying a heavy burden.

Too many people in our world are living to please other people. They feel pressure to please parents, siblings, friends, critics, fans, fellow church members, and others; yet many of them are failing at keeping everyone happy. Ask anyone-from the richest man to the poorest man on earth-if they live without criticism and the answer is no.

So why do many people try so hard to please others? The answer may be found in the answer of a circus actor. This man's act (being shot out of a canon) had been performed twelve hundred times when a reporter asked him why he signed up for the dangerous jOB. His reply: "Do you know what it's like to feel the applause of 60,000 people? That's why I did it!"

People live for the pat on the back, the applause, the "jOB well done" from their peers. Their actions are often guided by what others want. Yet God tells us that our service should be done not to please others, but to please Him, "Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord...."

You will face critics in your life. We all have people who are displeased with what we do, say, or how we behave. Too many people take criticism to heart and allow it to determine their actions. Rather than listening to what a critic says about your life, listen to what God says about your life.

When someone criticizes your actions, ask yourself these questions:

  • Am I OBeying God's Word?
  • Am I honoring God with my life?
  • Am I faithfully living the life He has for me?
  • Is God pleased with my actions?


If you can answer yes to each question, then ignore the critics and continue faithfully serving God. The opinion of critics will be of little importance when you reach Heaven. All that will matter is the opinion of your Heavenly Father.
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Miss Linda, hello;

†. Mal 3:8 . .Will a man rOB God? Yet ye have rOBbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we rOBbed thee?

Christians prOBably never think of themselves as rOBbing God in the workplace but lots of them do it all the time.

†. Titus 2:9-10a . . Bond slaves are to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering;

The koiné Greek word for "pilfering" is nosphizomai (nos-fid'-zom-ahee) which means to squirrel something aside for one's self: viz: embezzle; which Webster's defines as: to appropriate (as property entrusted to one's care) fraudulently to one's own use.

Embezzling isn't limited to strictly money; no, it's also the misuse of an employer's property such as office materials and office equipment, and/or shop materials and shop equipment; including water and electricity.

My last jOB before retiring was as a civilian employee for the US Army Corps of Engineers in the Portland Oregon district. It was against the rules for us to even take anything out of a dumpster, or use a battery charger to jump-start our cars, or even to so much as pump up a low tire on our cars with the air produced by a government air compressor. We were not supposed to use the computers for surfing the web or composing personal e-mails.

Everything on the facility where I worked was US Government property, including the trash, and could not be used in an unofficial capacity without first OBtaining special permission. Violators were subject to prosecution for Fraud, Waste, and Abuse.

Unofficial use of office computers alone is costing employers all over America multiplied thousands of hours of wages and benefits paid to employees who are online during the work day for personal reasons. The most outrageous case I heard of at work was a lady downtown in the district office who was caught conducting her Mary K Cosmetics business via a US Government computer.

So, will a man rOB God? Well I can tell you that Christians disOBey Eph 6:6-8 all the time and nOBody seems to think anything of it; not realizing that their true employer is the Lord in heaven; and just as he OBserved the widow contribute her mites, so he OBserves Christians who pilfer on the jOB.

†. Col 3:23-25 . . And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

C.L.I.F.F.
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