Launch is a three-day period of time for more training and preparation before we fly out for our first country. Luckily for me we launched out of Atlanta, Georgia. At launch we had seminars on health and safety that accompanied online trainings that we had already completed prior to Launch. We had several sessions of worship through music and talks delivered by previous racers. The four main topics of launch to prepare us for the race were:
- Willingness To Grow – Freedom From Approval of Others
- God’s presence
- Positive Attitude
- Healthy Community
Without a willingness to grow and change we will never be able to allow God’s presence through the Holy Spirit to empower us to impact the nations. The familiar saying goes, how can we help others without ever first helping ourselves. We cannot give unless we have received. We cannot be filled in order to give if we have countless personal wounds and strong holds that stand between God and ourselves. One topic we learned about was entitled, “Freedom from the Approval of Others: Addiction to Affirmation.” This topic was about areas in our lives where we struggle with trying to please others; commonly know as being ‘a people pleaser.’ Being a people pleaser means having the need for others to be pleased with us or we are not pleased with ourselves. For example, if we base our satisfaction with ourselves about a task we have completed on the reaction or approval of others we are falling into the people-pleasing category. If we are honest, at times, we all do this. However, our satisfaction, value, and worth should come from our identity in Christ alone.
Generally when I think of a ‘people pleaser’ I think of someone who is being selfless and trying to put others first. But when we look at the heart of the matter, if we are pleasing others to win their approval or for the feelings their reactions give us; we are not being selfless at all, but in fact, are being selfish. You know in your heart when someone is being kind or doing something for you just so that you can give or act a certain way in return. The act does not feel genuine and in a way you feel used.
God is not a people pleaser. God does not bless us or love us so that we can be pleased or feel good. Sometimes God loves us through discipline or seasons of trials and waiting. I don’t know about you, but in those times I don’t always ‘feel good.’ God does bless us, not for how he can make us feel, but because He is love.
If you want to help free others, you have to be set free from people and the need for their approval. As long as you are seeking to please others you are not set free to love them. Any parent knows this concept well. Loving others is not always easy or emotionally satisfying at first. As we become more like Christ we become more like our true selves and will become more able to love others with a Christ centered love rather than a me-centered love. The closer we are to the heart of God the more emotionally satisfying it is to chose love for others sake rather than for our own.
