You cannot please everyone!

It’s been many years since baseball great Willie Mays, the “say-hay” kid roamed center field for the Giants. It seemed there was nothing the man couldn’t do in baseball. At the plate he was one of the league’s best hitters with a career total of 3283 hits, and 660 home runs. He was also a fabulous base runner. To top it off, he was a golden glove award winner for four seasons. He was a fan favorite, playing in 24 All-Star games and winning two “most valuable player” awards over four World Series.

When it came time for the Hall of Fame vote, you would have thought it would have been a slam dunk. Yet, when Mays was eligible to be voted into the Hall of Fame, 23 out of 431 baseball writers voted against him. On what basis did these baseball experts think a living legend like Willie Mays should not be in the Hall of Fame? When asked how they could not vote for the all-star, several of the writers said, “Well, he wasn’t always friendly to us!” Since when did friendliness become a criterion for the Hall of Fame?

The Bible teaches us, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Certainly this should be our goal. We should not go out of our way to make enemies. We should build more bridges than walls, but the harsh reality is you cannot please everyone. No matter how well you perform, no matter how hard you try, someone will find fault with you.

Even Christ had His enemies. If the Son of God cannot please everyone, what hope do you and I have? Actually, one of the most important lessons I have learned along the way is that I am not called to please everyone, but only to please One, Jesus Christ. In my experience, if I am pleasing to Him, I will be pleasing to most of the people.

Shoulder to shoulder,

Gregg