Think about this the next time you feel pressure to please someone or to please a group of people rather than trying to fear and please God. Picture yourself at your life review with God having the following conversation:
God: "So, why didn't you take the opportunity I offered you?"
You: "I really wanted to and I knew it was your will for my life, but you know how upset _____ would have gotten if I did. It would have been awful."
God: "You are right, ______ would have gone through the roof and would have been upset with you. And, I have a meeting with _____ later … in exactly three years, two months, six days, seven hours, and thirty-three minutes. At that time, I'll be talking to ______ about his [or her] tendency to get mad at people when they did not please him [or her]. I will take care of that issue. But that is ______'s life, not yours. You are responsible for your own choices. You are responsible for your own decisions and ________ is responsible for how he [she] responded to you … That will be his [or her] problem. But, the fact that you chose to give in to him [or her] is your problem, and now I want to show you the life that you gave up by living the life that other people wanted. Watch that screen over there … ."
Then you see what could have been if only you had not tried to live your life to please others instead of first pleasing God.
