are you leading for God or just trying to keep everyone happy? Saying yes to everything. Avoiding hard conversations. It can feel like peace in the moment. But it's a path to your burnout. Today we're breaking the people pleasing trap before it breaks you. This is Lead in 10. I'm Chris Moore, and today we're tackling a tough one. The risk of people pleasing. Galatians chapter one, verse 10 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 is making it clear you can't live to please people and serve Christ at the same time. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. Leadership requires humility, requires compassion, empathy, a servant heartedness, but there's a difference between serving people and needing their approval to feel secure. When your worth, depends on others liking you. You've surrendered your leadership to an opinion. To their opinion, and let's be honest, people pleasing, feel safe in the moment. Say what they want to hear. Avoid that hard conversation. Don't rock the boat. But over time it's exhausting. It drains confidence, it clouds decisions, and it pulls you away from what God is actually asking you to do in the moment. Because when you live to keep everyone happy, you never lead with clarity, you know. What does this say about us? It says, we want to be liked. Now, that's not a weakness. That's actually very human. We, we want affirmation, we want approval. We want to be seen as kind, helpful, even godly. It's something that comes into us when we're a child wanting that approval from our parents, from those around us. We're trying to make friends, but when that desire becomes a need that makes us do things that we normally wouldn't, we lose our center. What does this say about God? Well, first it says that he alone deserves our full allegiance. He's not looking for people pleasers. He's looking for the faithful. He's looking for people who will speak truth and love for those who will obey him, even when it's unpopular for leaders who would rather disappoint people than disobey the Lord. Now I've had moments where I knew what God was asking me to say, but I softened it. Maybe even didn't say it because I didn't want to offend. I've overcommitted because I didn't wanna let someone down. I've held back from confronting a problem because I didn't wanna be seen as harsh or part of the problem. And you know what? It never brought peace. It really only ever delayed the problem. People pleasing doesn't bring peace. It brings pressure. The wrong kind of pressure, the pressure that builds until something finally breaks. Might just be your schedule, might be your soul or your credibility. So what's our application? You know, we need to make decisions based on our convictions, not on popularity. You know, ask, what does faithfulness look like in this situation? This one I'm dealing with right now? Am I shrinking back because I wanna be liked? Is this the right thing? Even if it's not the easiest thing to do, you know, leading from your calling, leading from what God would have you to do and not from the crowd. When your identity is rooted in Christ, you are free to lead with clarity and with courage. So here's some ways to break free from people pleasing pause before saying yes. And I gotta admit, this is a hard one for me. We need to stop and ask ourselves, is this wise? Or I'm I afraid to disappoint someone if I say no. You know, practice having one hard conversation with love this week, you know you're gonna have an opportunity. And remember that disagreement with someone is not a rejection. We need to learn how to disagree, and even more so than being friends, but being confident in one another and supporting one another, even in disagreement. You know, we need to refuse to let someone else's emotions determine whether we're gonna be obedient to God or not, and ask God to help you be loving without being controlled by the need to be liked. You can be loving towards people and not have to do everything that they want you to. You're not responsible for how everyone feels about you, but you are responsible for staying faithful to the things that God wants you to do. Now, I'll be honest, some of the most pivotal moments in my life came when I chose Truth Over Comfort. You know, it's hard sometimes when I said no, even though someone was going to be disappointed, someone I cared for, someone I loved. Um, you know, it's difficult when I corrected a team member rather than letting a problem slide. That's hard to do, especially early on in your career in managing and to do it the right way. Do it in the way that God would have you to do. You know, when I followed God's leading, even though it meant some people would misunderstand, it was better for me. You know what I found? God honors that obedience. People may not always applaud it. They maybe in the moment they. Heavily dislike you. They may even hate you for the answer that you give, but I found more times than not when you do it in the right way with the right meaning behind it and you're following what God would have you to do, people come back to you. Now, they may not always applaud it in the moment. But heaven, God, he always does. That's what he expects from us. So here's your challenge for today. Evaluate one decision you've been avoiding and ask, am I hesitating because of fear or faithfulness? Then act based on what God is asking you to do. What is it that God would have you to do? What takes you down the path that God wants you to walk? Not what other people might think about you. True freedom comes when you realize that you are not called to please everyone. You're only called to honor one. Now you don't have to carry the weight of everyone's expectations. You don't have to chase applause. You don't have to twist yourself into a version of leadership that leaves you drained. You were never called to please people. You were called to lead with courage, with truth, and with love. This is Lead in 10. I'm Chris Moore. It's time to go lead with freedom. Freedom from other people's expectations, from their wants and needs. Let the fear of man fall behind you. Concentrate on what God would have you to do. This spoke to your heart today. Please tap the like button, subscribe. Share this message with a leader who's maybe carrying too many opinions around with them, and remind them that God's approval. It's more than enough, and I'll see you next time.