Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."
Luke 12:1
Many thousands had gathered to see Jesus, to hear Him speak, to be touched and healed by Him. Can you imagine the weight of those expectations? I can't. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have thousands of people all wanting to see me and hear from me at the same time. But notice what Jesus does. He ignores the thousands for the moment and speaks directly to His disciples first.
It strikes me that Jesus always does the most needful thing. He never seems to get distracted by the pressure to meet people's expectations of Him. Because Jesus doesn't care about pleasing people. He only cares about pleasing God with each and every second of His life.
How often do you run yourself ragged trying to please everyone, or even trying to please only one person, when what you ought to be doing is living to please God?
Lord, help me to be like Jesus. Help me to do what is most needful. Help me to be immune to the pressures of other people's expectations of me. Help me to be comfortable allowing everything else to wait while I do the one thing that is most needful: living to please You. Amen.
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