Whac-A-Mole: Humanism — Thursday
Psalm 8:1
“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.”
(NIV)
If you ask anyone who knows me well what I worry about most, they’ll tell you that I worry about what people think of me. I am naturally a people pleaser, and I want to be in good standing with everyone. This can lead me to worry about the opinions of others and place their thoughts about me higher than what I know God says about me. Allowing the opinions of others to shape what I believe about myself is detrimental. It leads me to a place of worry, anxiety, and fear. Even worse, it can cause me to disregard my identity in Jesus and, instead, place it in the words and thoughts of others. This gives others authority over my identity instead of the Lord and, ultimately, steals my joy.
One day, I was telling a friend how stressed and worried I was about what people thought about me. After listening to my spiraling for a minute, he looked at me and said, “It doesn’t matter what other people think about you. All that matters is what God says about you.” While his advice was something I knew to be true already, hearing someone say it point-blank to me like that was impactful. God’s authority is so much higher and so much greater than our own because of His great love for us. We can trust what He says, and in the face of worry and fear, we can look to our good Father. He is our source of joy, and His glory and grace are things we can stand firm on. Nothing and no one will ever compare to Him, and no one’s words will ever hold more authority than His.
Thursday’s Reflection
Do you believe what God says about you? Are there areas of your life where human thoughts and feelings hold authority over you instead of the Lord? Ask Him to help you place your trust in Him and His ultimate authority.