1 Thessalonians 2:4: For we speak as messengers who have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He is the one who examines the motives of our hearts.  (Emphasis mine.)

I think sometimes we forget that as Christians, our first and foremost goal is to live for God, not for people. Too many churches spend time trying to cater to everyone's personal musical preferences, when the goal should be worshiping God. Are we really pleasing God when we argue over things that should not be important? This verse struck me in my Bible reading today. It's a timely reminder from Paul what our goal should be: to please God. To please God sometimes will require that we displease people. I've just gone through something this week which required me to talk to my boss about a coworker who inappropriately lost her temper on the sales floor and gave another airport employee a real hard time. This particular coworker has done this before, and it's very hard to correct her because she doesn't accept correction. So I, with a little prodding, finally went to the boss. He hasn't addressed it yet, but he will. Many of my other coworkers are just not comfortable with her because of this. I just didn't want to get her mad at me, but in this case, the right thing to do was go to the boss.

It is so easy to forget though: pressure to conform seems so strong, and God can seem so far away. It is hard to believe in what you cannot see..