“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Galatians 1:10 (NIV)
So I am going to tell on myself here. It is after midnight. I was just about to lie down to drift off into la-la land when I suddenly realized that my dishes downstairs were not done and the kitchen looked like it had all day – a total wreck! I would have had no trouble sleeping until I realized…HE IS COMING!! You would never know by my willingness to deprive myself of much-needed sleep that I actually don’t know who he is. All I know is that in a moment of insanity I scheduled our A/C unit to be checked by this stranger at 7:30 a.m. later this morning! And I would be absolutely mortified if he judged me by my dirty dishes and unswept floor.
True, he will leave and I will probably never see him again or at least not soon enough to remember what he looks like should he pass me on the street. But the thought that a stranger might think I am a slob is motivation enough to get me to clean up.
And the question I have is why, at times, do I care more about how a stranger might think of me than how Jesus does? Jesus, help me to seek you first and reduce my need to receive the approval of others.
WOW—you do it again…bring me to my knees with my selfish, worldly desires—thank you.
We do worry more about being judged by the world–maybe because the world is cruel and our God is kind and loving. Or maybe because the world laughs at us and our God gathers us up into his strong arms and tells us He forgives us. Or maybe because we know we can pull off a masquerade with the world but our God sees into our very soul.
I don't know…but I just straightened up my kitchen for the delivery men to drop of my kitchen table! 🙂
love you girl!
paige
lol….because Jesus doesn't gossip to the neighbors!!! But I know what you mean.
On the other hand, maybe we can use our cleaning-guilt to motivate us to do all kinds of other good things. Eventually, we'll get used to doing the "right" thing and our motivation will change. (Maybe?) lol