The temptation to lie to make oneself look good and save face can be very real.
I remember years ago as a young man I had two Labrador retrievers that had a bad habit of getting out of the back yard. I tried taller fencing and even electric fencing but to no avail. Having already tasted the freedom that came with escape at a young age, they wouldn’t be contained. One day I came home to find that they had been picked up and placed in the local animal shelter.
I was embarrassed and ashamed as I could not afford to go get them out. A couple of weeks later I was visiting my parents and had went for a walk. It was during this walk that I ran into a couple of women that I had known for several years, neither of whom were Christians. Somehow during my conversation with these two ladies the wellbeing of my dogs had come up. To my surprise, before I even had time to think about what I was saying, I was telling the women that the dogs were doing well. Did I mention that these women weren’t Christians? Not only were they not Christians but one of these women was Trouble with a capital ‘T’, always stirring up strife in the community I had grown up in, and I had just lied to save face with her without even thinking about it. As I walked away from the two women the Holy Spirit began to convict me about how the conversation had went but the idea of going back to these two women and telling them I hadn’t been truthful was almost unbearable, but go back I did.
After apologizing to the women, I told them the truth about the situation with my dogs, and explained that I hadn’t told them the truth because I was ashamed of myself for not taking better care of my dogs. The women of course told me that there was no need to have come back and that it was no big deal.
So my question is, why do we want to save face with people or please people, even people we don’t sometimes like?
Is it wrong to want to please people? I think the answer is yes and no and comes down to your motivation.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31-33, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.”
What is Paul saying?
It’s always right to want to please God, period, and everything we do should be to his glory and honor. It’s never right to please people at the cost of displeasing God. Paul’s pleasing all men in all things doesn’t have to do with Paul saving face. Paul is talking about being able to give up his liberties in Christ for the sake of others. Paul was at liberty but would not use that liberty to cause someone else to stumble in their faith if their faith was weak in an area, say concerning food or drink. Paul was willing to do without, in order not to cause people to stumble in their faith and to gain audience with people so that he could share Christ, that they might be saved. To the Jews he became a Jew, to the Gentiles he became a Gentile.
If your motivation in pleasing people is pride and saving face to look good, your motivation is wrong.
If your motivation in pleasing people is seeking their salvation or their spiritual health in Christ, your motivation is right.
So, in one scenario, such as with me and my dogs, the motivation was to make myself look better, to profit me.
In Paul’s scenario, the motivation was to please God, to profit others, and to do what was best for them.
Please God my friends and look to others well-being and salvation.
God bless.
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