So whose approval are you living for?
Your parents', siblings', neighbors', colleagues', fellow church members'? Some one else?
Ever consider who you really are living to impress? And, do you think you're actually impressing them and that you have their approval? WOW, I was doing okay until I got to that question.
The entire day today I wrestled with that question. Who am I trying to win over? Who am I trying to impress with the things that I do? And, do I actually believe that it's getting me somewhere?
We are in real trouble if we believe in our hearts that we can win people over. For if we win one person over, we're sure to disappoint another. We are sure to make enemies before we know it because you simply cannot make everyone happy all at the same time.
But, more importantly, we were not created to be people pleasers. People are fickle. They have finite wisdom and selfish desires. Impressing one person today may mean something completely different tomorrow. Instead, we were created to commune with God and to closely align with His desires and His call upon our life. To attempt to live up to the call that another gives us and then to work hard to gain their approval is a losing battle.
We must determine in our hearts to simply do as the Lord has instructed us and to see that is it only for Him that we move and breathe. I hope to really live and act and do what is right and not what is popular or going to be approved of. . . . I want to live for more than the applause of the moment..
Blessings, kim
I truly enjoy reading your insights. How true it is that we constantly are living as people pleasers! It centers me upon I. It is the original sin of wanting to be God. Rather, we are to live for His glory, for He will be glorified. We readily full ourselves when we think we can accomplish His purposes for other people. In being people pleasers we frequently make excuses that we are loving that person as Christ loves us. However, the only way to love is to remain in the Vine. As I remain in HIm, His juices flow through and out of me to love the other person as God knows he needs. That person doesn't even know what is good for him, and thus comes out of a heart of love. When we love someone through Jesus, we are amazed at the fruit that is produced that can never come from within us.
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