Bold and Beautiful Chikamu

People Pleasing

Body:

Their eyes are everywhere, watching every move you make. They praise, ridicule, analyze, scrutinize and cast judgment after judgment, and their words can inflict wounds so deep they’ll need years to heal.

Fans, critics, scouts and media. Parents, friends, peers and rivals. They all have something to say, and some of their voices carry tremendous weight in our lives. Whether we realize it or not, we may be letting their opinions dictate how we live our lives and approach our sports. That’s why it’s so important that we learn to shift our focus to the only audience that should have that kind of authority over us: our loving, grace-filled Heavenly Father.

Now, the desire to please others isn’t entirely bad. It’s fun to watch others delight in us and to contribute to their happiness. The problem, however, arises when we do things out of an effort to earn the acceptance we think will make us feel valuable and worthwhile.

As kids, we gain confidence and self-esteem from words of affirmation offered by parents and influential authority figures. When those words are absent or are replaced by negative, derogatory comments, the child becomes insecure and believes she is worthless and must “do better” to earn the missing approval.

The truth is that you don’t have to please a single person in the world to attain the validation you crave, and you don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love. You already have all the acceptance and validation you could ever want simply because God chooses to give it to us. We can’t earn it, and we’ll never deserve it. All we can do is thank Him for it and accept His free, unconditional love, which manifested clearly on the cross when Jesus died for us.

No amount of points scored, trophies earned or records set will increase or decrease your standing in God’s sight. And while it’s nice to have the approval of people, you’ll find that you don’t need it. His unmatchable love and approval is more than enough.

Questions:

1. Whose approval do you seek and how do you try to earn it?
2. To what degree do you feel like you have to earn God’s approval and love? How do you try to earn it?
3. What does His Word say about how He gives us His love?

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