Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Dangers of Being a People Pleaser

1. Inordinate people-pleasing brings you into bondage by enslaving you to everyone whom you desire to please.
2. The excessive love of praise takes from you the honor you so eagerly seek.
3. Immoderate people-pleasing causes you to lose eternal rewards.
4. The inordinate desire for approval blinds you to your own sin.
5. Pride tempts you to exaggerate your virtues.
6. Pride tempts you to minimize your flaws.
7. Pride tempts you to distort and magnify the seriousness of your flaws.
8. Pride tempts you to change things in your life according to man’s priorities rather than the agenda of the Holy Spirit.
9. Pride focuses your attention on changing the outer man more than the inner man.
10. An excessive love of praise tempts you to believe man’s opinion of yourself over God’s opinion.
11. The inordinate desire for approval makes you susceptible to flattery and renders you more vulnerable to deception and manipulation from others.
12. The inordinate desire for approval makes the people-pleaser susceptible to many other sinful temptations.
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to say “yes” when he ought to say “no.”
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to be a respecter of persons (to show partiality).
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to give in to peer pressure.
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to be indecisive.
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to choose the wrong kinds of friends for the wrong reasons.
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to discontentment and greed.
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to be timid about sharing his faith.
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to hypocrisiy.
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to respond defensively when reproved by others.
  • The love of approval tempts the people-pleaser to loquaciousness (opening his mouth before engaging his brain).
13. Immoderate people-pleasing robs the approval-seeker of his peace and joy.


Lou Priolo, Pleasing People: How Not To Be An Approval Junkie (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2007), 51-82.

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