NOT TRYING TO PLEASE MEN Monday – July 5, 2010

NOT TRYING TO PLEASE MEN Monday – July 5, 2010

“On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed--God is our witness.” – 1 Thessalonians 2:4-5

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded. The explosion and subsequent fire killed 11 workers. It led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
As investigators began questioning survivors, one key witness was Mike Williams. Williams was the chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon. He stated that the well’s blowout preventer was damaged weeks earlier, but a supervisor described it as “no big deal.”
Williams also stated that there was constant pressure from management to work faster. Williams reported that a British Petroleum manager had said just days prior to the disaster: “'Hey, let’s bump it up. Let’s bump it up.’ And what he was talking about there is he’s bumping up the rate of penetration – how fast the drill bit is going down.”
The willingness to please management negated following safety precautions.

The Lord desires that we please Him, not the desires of men. Today in prayer, thank the Lord that we should live our lives so that we speak as men and women approved by God.

“Whether men be pleased or displeased, or how they judge you, or what they call you, will seem a small matter to you as their own interest, in comparison to God’s judgment. You live not on them. You can bear their displeasure, censures, and reproaches, if God be but pleased.” – Richard Baxter

God’s Word: “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10