what God thinks..ONLY!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how I worry way too much about what other people think of me. Ever since I brought this problem to God, it has been the most freeing feeling. I still struggle with at often, but I am improving, and God loves and recognizes that. I found a couple quotes and verses from the Bible related to this topic that I wanted to share with you.

"Oh don't worry; we wouldn't dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!"

2 Corinthians 10:12

"Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant."Galatians 1:10

So you see, these verses make it very clear that it is only God's opinion that matters. He is the one who holds us accountable for everything we do.

      Let me give you a few good reasons why caring about what others think leads to disaster...and don't for a second think this is me saying "because I'm perfect, let me show you how to be better!" This is advice I'm giving you is what I have learned from my past mistakes on caring what others think of me.

     1) It destroys our self-confidence that God meant for us to have in Him and only Him.

When you are constantly seeking the approval of others and worrying what they may think about you, you are leaving no room for God to work in you. God wants our confidence to come from Him and Him alone. With God as your confidence, you have this amazing, unexplainable new light shining within you. There's something so freeing knowing that the God of the universe has our lives in complete and total control, we just have to give him the keys.

     2) We are trapped in chains from continuously seeking the approval of others.

I remember in the past in high school when I was all about gaining popularity and enhancing my self-image in the way others saw me. There wasn't nothing I desired more than to maintain an awesome social life, based on popularity alone. Popularity/self image became my God. And because I allowed myself to live my life in this way, when others didn't approve of me, it broke me. I became depressed. I wanted them to give me attention, but they weren't. I wanted others to look at me with admiration. I was in a deep pit, and I couldn't get out.

3) It disables us from depending on God.

When we are seeking the approval of others, they become what we depend on. We depend on them for attention, for them to include us, for them to like us, for them to bring us more social gain, etc. This leads to destruction, especially when they dump you as a friend. There is nothing that God desires more than for his children to depend on him with their entire hearts. When God is your solid foundation, you can do things beyond your imagination. He promises to give us the strength to keep us going, we just have to ask. I don't know about you, but I'm asking God maybe 15 times a day for strength? And when I ask, he never fails to provide. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside just writing this. (hahaha...but seriously.) Anyways, when we are seeking the approval of others, they become what we depend on. We depend on them for attention, for them to include us, for them to like us, for them to bring us more social gain, etc. This leads to destruction, especially when they dump you as a friend.

So my friends, I encourage you to pray on a daily basis that God will help you to keep His focus on Him and Him alone. When this happens, God will direct your thoughts, minds, actions to what is most important for Him. And we all know that his plan for us is better than anything we can come up with. That is my prayer for all of you today! I'm off to bed, tomorrow is going to be a fun day full of math homework and preparing for finals. God, help me to focus on spring break! Love you all! Message me with any questions or anything you want to talk about!

<3 Jess