Am I now trying to get people to think well of me?
Or do I want God to think well of me? Am I trying to
please people? If I were, I would not be serving Christ.
(Gal. 1:10 NIRV)

Jesus knew crowds! He had a perfect understanding of what is modernly called “Crowd Psychology” (John 2:23-25). Crowds seemingly know everything or know nothing. The crowds of Jesus’ day lauded Him as a great prophet who had come from God. Others claimed Him as the Son of David. Still others just figured He was John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah. (Then, we can’t forget others were there just for a good meal (St. John 6:24-26 )).

Jesus knew that He was rightfully due praise (Luke 19:37-42), but He was not influenced by crowds. As He entered Jerusalem, they exalted Him with shouts of ‘Hosanna’! So, they praised Him, but near the end of His life, crowds were influenced to send Jesus to His death by crucifixion (Mark 15:9-14)!

Jesus had His ministry among crowds, but on many occasions He would retire from the people to be alone with God. Many today are caught up in the opinions of what people say and what they think (Mark 11:29-33). But, there is a secret place — a place where God wants His servants to be — which is far from the opinions and crowds of people.  We must also learn not to go to extremes to get people to think well of us by trying to impress them (Ga. 1:10). This is a distortion of what is true. The more we commune with God the less we are influenced by people’s censures of us (I Cor. 4:3-4).

It’s true that we need all kinds of people to interact with. It is also true that we need to find times to distance ourselves from people to know the mind and will of God. Crowds and groups of people will always be there; they are not going away, but how we view and interact with them is important. Let’s get away from trying to impress people and get on with the business of pleasing God!