Who’s approval are you looking for?
I am a reality show junkie, and one of my favorites is the “Real Housewives” series on Bravo. Now don’t be confused… it is a stretch to call these ladies “housewives.” The point of the series is to follow 5-6 women who run in the loftiest of circles. The series began by following women in Orange County, California, but has since added New York and Atlanta to the mix.
In the series, we see these women go to extreme lengths to impress the other women in the group, their families, even complete strangers. They move with an attitude of “I don’t care what others think of me, I’m happy with myself,” yet they crave acceptance and approval from everyone.
In short, they are living horizontally.
When you live horizontally, you look at the world through the eyes of those around you. You see your failures and successes magnified in their response to you.
When you accept Christ into your life, your vision must change from horizontal to vertical. You must look up for the Father’s approval, rather than at the world and those around you. You can put on the most expensive dress, carry the latest handbag, and be dripping in diamonds. But God sees past all of that. He looks at the heart.
Don’t get me wrong, we all want to be liked, we yearn for approval from those around us. We want to be the funniest, smartest, cutest, the one that folks want to be around. But none of that matters to God, and in the end, that is who we must impress. And it’s pretty easy to impress Him… just accept His son as your Savior. Acknowledge your sin, and that Christ came to wipe it away through his death and resurrection.
Abraham Lincoln once said: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
I’d like to add to that: But you can’t fool God… ever.
December 11th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Excellent way of putting it. I believe a lot of our self-esteem issues would disappear if we focused on pleasing our heavenly father.