Skeptics love to come into our lives and say things like “Hey, I love your vision and passion; they’re great. But why risk it? Some people aren’t going to like it. You’ll probably get some negative feedback. You might make some people outright angry. If you offend somebody, why do what you’re called to do by God?”
Why give half your money away to the poor, if your family says, “That’s a stupid thing to do”? Why go ahead and keep doing what God’s called you to do when you might provoke the wrath of the skeptics around you? Why?
Because you’re not called to please man. You are called to please God. We see in the Bible that “Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men’” (Acts 5:29, ESV). You’re not here to make everybody happy with your decisions. Children of God, you must be willing to make tough decisions that sometimes go against the current and are unpopular. When you make those choices, not everybody will go along with you.
Some people might say, “In this economy, you starting your own business is the most foolish thing!” If God has told you to start your own business, though, you don’t look at the economy. You don’t listen to the skeptics’ voices around you. You don’t look at anything else except Jesus and where he’s calling you.
Now in this economy I’d ask God twice, but I would say, “God, oh God, oh God, take away from me any residue of that spirit to appease man. God, rend my heart of that attitude that says, ‘I want to make sure everybody around me likes me. I want to make sure everybody pats me on the back all the time.’” It’s time that we get some spiritual gumption and say, “I don’t care what man says about me. I don’t care what the world thinks about this ridiculous faith-effort that I’m moving into because I’m going to obey God and not man.”
Fear disobedience and the disapproval of God more than you do the disapproval of man. I’m going to listen to his voice, and I want him to speak over me, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23).