Nothing to Prove, Just Someone to Please
“Examine your motives to make sure you’re not showing off when you do your good deeds, only to be admired by others; otherwise, you will lose the reward of your heavenly Father” (Matthew 6:1, TPT).
The desire for validation and acceptance is a powerful driver. The fear of rejection or the fear of being hurt by the ridicule of others can become a cruel master. How many things do we do to gain the applause of men? Social media, for instance, is often an unspoken competition for public approval. If you play this game, you are leveraging your personal sense of worth in order to get your fifteen minutes of fame. Having a video go viral or getting thousands of strangers to heart your picture, share your story, or start following you is the reward of the game. In this new technological age, you can actually get paid in dollars and cents for this public approval. Who doesn’t want to be rewarded, applauded, or embraced? Some people will sell their soul for it.
Everyone has a deep desire to be loved. God made us with this desire, but is seeking the admiration of others—people we don’t know or don’t know well—actually satisfying our need to be loved? Is there a better way to live than risking rejection every day or living in constant fear of people suddenly changing their mind about us? People are fickle. One example is the crowd, who on Sunday heralded Jesus as the Son of David and danced in the streets. Before the week ended, those same people were yelling, “Give us Barabbas!” and “Crucify Jesus!”
Proverbs 29:25 gives a warning and a promise: “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” This verse exposes the truth about living our life on the surface rather than rooting it in relationship with God. The fear of man is a trap. In Hebrew, it literally means a noose around our neck. Thankfully, there is a way out of the death trap. Wisdom tells us that we are safe when we trust God. Even though God knows everything about us and has more reasons to reject us or judge us, He values us and loves us more than we can understand. Trusting Him is a safe place. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). In other words, living our life to please God (fearing His disproval) invites a whole new flow of thinking. Wisdom flows from seeking the favor of God rather than men.
Jesus warned us about this trap when He admonished us to stop and think about why we do what we do. Even our giving to others, our praying, and our fasting —all godly actions—should be put to the test. Why are we doing this? To be seen as a “good person”? To seek the admiration of men or the affirmation of our Father in Heaven? Why is this so important? Because seeking the reward of pleasing men means we risk losing the reward of our heavenly Father. The Greek word for reward means “to be paid in full.” It is a marketplace or business term. To be rewarded is transactional. All prayer, fasting, and giving with the motive of man’s admiration does no eternal good. Heaven does not respond, because man already has. We have already been paid. Heaven owes us nothing.
If, however, we do what we do because it is right—because we care—God will see what we do when others do not. He keeps good score and will reward us. To be rewarded by God is the ultimate affirmation of a human soul. No man or woman is more secure (as opposed to insecure) than someone who is loved by God (I John 4:18). The greatest reward is the reward of relationship with God. In the end, we realize we have nothing to prove, just Someone to please.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
© 2026 Jason Sciscoe