Galatians 1:6-10

This is a battle I face all the time: pleasing other people or pleasing Christ. The main person that battles for the position that Christ should hold is myself. I try to please myself by wanting people to say I did a good job. I don't even care if I did a good job in reality, just as long as other people perceive me as having done well. God wants so much more from me, though. He wants me to seek to glorify Him in everything that I do. To be so focused on bringing Him glory that I don't care if anyone tells me I did a good job, because God is the only one who matters.
While other people's perceptions may be a fairly good metric of whether or not we have done a good job of communicating, that can't be my end goal. May God be glorified by everything I do, whether I am teaching His word or simply living my daily life.
JM

Galatians 1:1-5

God has appointed me to do the work that I'm doing. I know this because I can sense that I am in God's will for my life. The Bible, prayer, circumstances, and wise counsel all confirm it.
Since this is true, and since God is all-powerful, then that means that I cannot fail. Things may have the appearance of failing from the metrics that I use, but God is using me in the way that He desires. If He desired something different done, He would either lead me to do that or would lead another person into leadership of the ministry.
The focus then becomes less about what is best for the ministry, and more about what does God desire for my ministry, my church, myself. How can God use me for His greatest glory. Whether 1000 students show up (in my context) or 1. May God receive the glory from every aspect of my life. And my I not be ashamed to ascribe Him glory from every area of my life.
JM