I value man’s opinion over God’s.
I don’t mean to or even want to, but it’s clear from the way I live my life that this is what ends up happening. I realised this recently when I found that I really really find it hard to live with the idea of people being upset, or angry with me. It doesn’t even have to be a number of people, one will do. It doesn’t matter if they are in the right or wrong, or if I have handled myself immaculately.
Friends can tell me that I’ve done the right thing and acted with integrity, if that one person is still annoyed with me, I feel it. It’s a feel that haunts my days, jabbing at my consciousness. Almost entirely irrelevant questions flood my mind – did I do the right thing? What should I have done differently? I flip between judging the other party and judging myself for being so stupid. This cycle can last for weeks. Last week I realised the truth that this points to -
I find my security in humans, not God.
This is something that needs reversing, and soon. I want the freedom to enjoy life without being chained to the expectations, hopes and dreams of others. I want to be free to love them, not love them to provide me with security. I want to be able to say -
Psalm 62:1-2 ‘My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.’
and mean it.
joyrowe said:
I so identify with this…..
Steve said:
I think there’s kind of a balance needed, or more like extremes to be avoided. Some people deal with the issue by not caring at all what others think.
I think I’ve done both in the past. Swung from caring too much to not at all.
But I think an effective way to put it into perspective is to consider what is best for the person showing the disapproval. If they are genuinely in the wrong what will actually be best for them? Sometimes trying to keep people happy at all costs actually robs them of the opportunity to re-assess & change.
thesleepwalkerswife said:
I can definitely relate to this as well. Thanks for sharing!
meetingintheclouds said:
One of the basic need of humans is to be ACCEPTED. It hurts when we feel people do not accept us.
While we declare and mean that God is our Rock and Salvation and that we seek only His approval, it is also true that peoples’ opinions of us matter to us and affect us. Our responsibility is to heed only God’s approval and to put that of others in its correct place, having firstly ensured that we are not in the wrong and have not harmed them in any way. Maybe God is using what has happened to give us an opportunity to witness of Him.
We serve an incredibly amazing God who delights to undertake for us in every circumstance.