Pleasing Others For Their Good

“Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”” -Romans 15:2–3

The role each of us play in the community of saints is that of edifier. Though we are each endowed with different and varying gifts, we are to seek the good of our neighbor over pleasing our own selves—especially if one is in a leadership role. Paul exhorted the Ephesians in the same way when he wrote,

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” -Ephesians 4:11–14

Our ultimate example in this is Christ, who did not come to please himself but to humble himself for our sakes. He bore our reproach; as his followers, we too must bear our brothers’ reproach. This is the true piety of a Christian, as James also declares:

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” -James 1:27