Impressions

I read a quote today it said: We need to be more concerned about what God thinks about us than others.

How many of us worry about what others think of us more than what God thinks? I think it is easy to think about people am I doing my job the way that the boss wants me to, or am I slacking off, but maybe it is how I look at it. Do I not need to be so caught up in the fleshly desires to please people rather than doing my job to please God. See people are fickle, they change and what we do one minute may not be the right thing to do the next minute. Look at fashions, they are always changing, if I was so worried about what I was wearing to please others, than I would be lost in the idol of living up to what other peoples standards are.

God says do things in order to please Him, to bring Him honor. Can you imagine if we change our view point from pleasing others to pleasing God. In pleasing God we will change how we think, it will no longer be about what Joe (fictitious person) thinks of me, but what God thinks of me. I wont worry if I say something right or wrong, because my wording will be that which will bring glory to my Father in Heaven.

This can be applied to every aspect of life, it isn't that I am doing what is right, that I am doing it to bring glory to God. Just think about marriage for a minute, in Ephesians 5:21 "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." We don't do it because it comes easy, we do it to bring honor to Christ, because we love Jesus Christ so much, we want to bring Him honor. We can read through the Bible to see other area's this applies to as well and we will see that it comes down to who we want to please more, others, self or God.

God's grace is not a license for me to commit wrong, it is a license saying that yes He loves me so much that He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross so that I can live in forgiveness and live it fully and that by doing it fully I am honoring Jesus Christ with my actions, with my words and my thoughts. His grace is sufficient for me, but when I spit in His face by doing the very thing He has directed me not to do, it breaks His heart. Just think when someone does something that hurts you, how do you feel? That is how Jesus feels every time we go against His teachings, in Ephesians 4:30 it says "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Do you think that when I want to please others more than I want to please God that it grieves the Holy Spirit who resides in me? I do, I believe that the Holy Spirits voice will grow fainter and harder to hear every time I grieve Him. It is when I humble myself and pray for forgiveness and turn from my wicked ways, that the voice becomes louder, but I must turn, not do a 360, but do a 180 and run from the wickedness that I have asked for Jesus to forgive me from. Asking forgiveness is not a one time thing, but an every time I sin thing. I must be willing to repent, to turn and to except His forgiveness.

We are called to love Him more than anything else, but when I do things to please others, I am not doing it to please God, I am saying what others think is more important than what God thinks. Today are you doing things to bring God honor? Are you more worried about what others think or what God thinks?