Slavic Christians freedom from people pleasing

Dear Slavic Christian, 

Our parents taught us to please man, not God. 

They taught us to serve God, not rest in Him. 

They taught us to fear man and run from God when we sin. 

So we ultimately learned to reject the Father’s love instead of knowing that through the blood of Jesus, we are worthy to thrive in it. 

Think about this in your daily decisions and overall life choices…

When I hear people say, “I can’t pierce my ears because my dad will be mad,” or “I can’t have the job I want because I’ll be looked down by others,” or “I can’t leave my parents’ church even though the teaching goes against Scripture,” I think, not once did you mention seeking God’s opinion.

This people-pleasing mindset is one of the biggest problems that limits my clients from thriving in freedom: as long as we worry about what men will say, we will worship men over God.

So what if you pierce your ears and wear pants, will you go to hell? No.

What if you separate from your abusive spouse? Will you go to hell? No.

What if you leave your parents’ legalistic church and join one where the spirit of God still sets people free? Will you go to hell? No.

But as long as you listen to and fear man, you will stay stuck in your pit of bondage of people pleasing.

You will envy those who break free.

You will judge those who live the way you secretly want to.

You will restrict your kids from exploring their freedom and identity in Christ.

You will do what your parents did and experience the same consequences: tight rubber bands break loose sooner or later.

And not once did you consider that God came to set the captives free of religious, cultural, hypocritical, and demonic rules that separated us from Him…you became the captive that you never wanted to or needed to be.

You became controlled by others in the way you always feared.

You began to seek the opinion of sinful man instead of living in love, as Scripture permitted you to.

You see your parents living in misery, and you’re choosing to do the same.

Think about this, how long will you keep living in fear of what others think and running from the life God created you for?

Only when you desire to be free more than you want to please people who will never be satisfied will you have the courage to do so. It is only when no one else's opinion of you matters but His that you will have the courage to do so. It is only when the hope of a different future pushes you to change rather than being held back by the fear of your past. 

Dear one, the only thing you will lose when you live for Him is your old self as you discover a life of freedom in Him that you never thought was possible.