Kill the Mocking Bird

Many rulers believed in Jesus. However, they wouldn't admit it publicly because the Pharisees would have thrown them out of the synagogue. They were more concerned about what people thought of them than about what God thought of them.
(John 12:42-43)

We serve (i.e., we are the slave of) whoever’s opinion of us we are concerned with. Perhaps we serve ourselves, perhaps some heathen relative or cow-orker (it’s a Dilbertism), or someone of the opposite sex that we’re trying to impress. There are probably a few temporal benefits to pleasing others, but the benefits of pleasing God are eternal.

I run in to Christian after Christian (perhaps I need quote marks around those two proper names) who believe in God but who are quite willing to continue heedlessly in open sin and rebellion with little thought about the consequences. Then I stop and look in the mirror…Dope! I do the same thing just different vices.