Read John 12:35-43
They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. John 12:43
I once read a newspaper story about an old carnival headliner nicknamed “Cannonball”. In his younger days, he was blasted out of a cannon 1,200 times, pulled a 90 pound weight across a table with his eyelids, and performed many other bizarre stunts. When asked why he did such things, he replied, “Do you know what’s it’s like to feel the applause of 60,000 people? That’s why I did it over and over.”
In John 12 we learn about some leaders who were also motivated by a desire to please others. In their case, however, they refused to follow Jesus openly because they wanted to be accepted by the Pharisees. Although they had seen the Saviour’s miracles and believed in Him, they wouldn’t acknowledge this publicly. I believe we are safe in assuming that many people failed to turn to Jesus because they were also crowd pleasers who feared the disapproval of these “Chief” crowd pleasers.
We are all subject to social pressures. If we are true to ourselves and to God, we’ll be able to withstand the strong pull of the crowd. But if we become crowd pleasers, we’ll be in far worse shape than the man who climbing back into that cannon! Mart De Haan
If we, to gain the world’s applause,
Refuse to own the Saviour’s cause,
What shame will fill us on that day
When Thou Thy glory shall display! Anon
Yielding to God’s Spirit within prevents conforming to the world without.
Prayer:
Commit and spend time in prayer regarding the National Day of Prayer tomorrow in Canberra.
Plead with God to work within the lives of all our politicians, especially over those pushing for same sex couples marrying.
Pray that the possible law changes for ratings, R18+ will not be revoked, but instead, an even more tightening up of the law.
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