"I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant."
This is very interesting to me because it is going to be a huge part of what is going on in the world today. The world wants us to change to fit in and we know we can't do that. God is love and loves all people good and bad; He has no favorites but He still desires obedience because that helps us show our love for Him. Because the world is approving all kinds of behaviors as acceptable doesn't mean we need to follow those trends. As we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we need to surrender the things in our heart that are of the world and seek the truth to guide our actions. It is love to say no to ourselves, because our flesh is week and we will turn what our flesh is hungry for into truth if we don't surrender. Paul says at the end of verse 10, "...I would not be Christ servant." We are not our own, we are servants of Christ, letting go of our desires that come from our sinful nature (Adam's sin) that leads to our death.
Proverbs chapter 14 verse 34 says, "Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people." Just because the world is accepting to all behaviors doesn't mean we must be, and if the world is trying to control the church then we must say no to the world. Our feelings can't be what drives us in our life, it must be total surrender to God and believing His word is enough to follow without question. I love what Paul say in verse 12, "I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ." This is what Jesus wants from us as we grow in wisdom and knowledge. We go to church to learn and fellowship and then we open His word to ask, seek and know what the ministers are saying is truth. Any Pastor that doesn't point you to God's word, you need to be Leary of. We can't think that our desires will be what is good for us, because that's when we get comfortable and start to believe we are better than we really are.
Romans chapter 12 verses 1-3 says, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. ((let go of what you feel your body is telling you about sexual likes or orientations)) let them be a living and holy sacrifice-the kind He will find acceptable. ((Not what we find appealing or satisfying)) This is truly the way to worship Him. Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. ((If you believe you were born a certain way, you need to let it go, it is old and we are now new.)) Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." ((It might not seem that way to our flesh but it is for our souls.)) God will transform us all if we let Him, we can't seek transformation on the parts that we want or that we think are easy and then follow the world on the parts that we feel or think are right in our sight. We must open our hearts and minds and let God fill them, then when the Holy Spirit speaks we will hear and we won't be led by our flesh or feelings but by the Spirit of God. Amen