Day 2581 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
Isaiah 2:22 NIV
Just gonna toss this one out there: We give too much weight to humanity. We put too importance on things like opinions, judgement, the names we're called, the hatred we face, and this idea that we just have to find a place to belong in the midst of this sea of people. We've been taught since we were very young that having a bunch of people around us who approve of who we are and what we do is something extremely important.
Folks, people are just people. We're all far more alike than we care to realize or admit. We're all broken. We're all flawed. We're all imperfect. We're all unworthy. We're all insecure. We're all scared. We're all worried. We're all unsure. We're all searching. We're all hurting. We're all trying. We're all learning. We're all hoping. We're all lost. We're all found. We're all a far cry from what we often try to portray. It's time we stop acting like or believing that one person is any better or any worse than anyone else.
When we accept this idea that we have to earn someone else's approval or appreciation, we're only building them up into something that they're not. We're only allowing ourselves to believe that they're better than we are. We think that the opinions of others are so valuable because we see so many others living by them. We've bought this nonsense that those who society deems more special or more powerful or more important are the ones that we need to please in order to have that powerful and important feedback help us feel more powerful and important ourselves.
Friends, nobody on this earth can save you. Nobody down here can contend with God on your behalf. Nobody down here can determine whether or not we enter Heaven's gates when our lives are over. Nobody down here can forgive our sins. So why are we so worried about pleasing people? Why are we willing to do so much to earn the approval of those around us when that approval won't mean a thing when we're standing before God awaiting our eternal destiny?
Please stop holding man in such high regard. Again, we're all far more alike than we realize, and our commonalities include the inability to save anyone else. If humans can't save you, can't offer you eternal forgiveness, can't change God's mind about who you are or what you've done, then their opinions or approval or disapproval simply don't matter. Harsh? Yes. True? Absolutely.
We may have been taught that we must gain the praise of this world and everyone in it. But it's our choice to believe it. It's our choice to accept it. It's our choice to live our lives trying to earn this acceptance that really only matters in these temporal lives. And sadly, that's a choice we've all made. But thankfully, we can do something different starting today. We can stop living for man and begin living for God. We can stop trying to heap up praise and applause and approval for ourselves and live to please our Father in Heaven.
I promise you that any time spent holding mankind in such high regard that everything we say and do is done to please another human being is time lost. It's a mistake and a distraction that only pulls us away from the path we're supposed to be taking. Don't risk it anymore. God is the one who has the power to determine our eternal destination. He is the one that forgives our sins. He is the one that came to save us when we didn't deserve it. Therefore, He is the only one who deserves our attention, our focus, our time, our energy, our lives.
Stop living as if humanity is in some way on equal standing with God. That will never be the case!
Comments
Post a Comment