If you go to my facebook profile, in that little box on the left hand side, there's a Bible verse from Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." I had just visited my facebook profile right before doing my quiet time and had read the verse, but I didn't really read it...know what I mean? And then I opened up my devotional and was hit by the real meaning of this incredible verse.
The first sentence of the writing states: "Somebody once said that half the people in this world go around worrying about what the other half thinks of them." "Instead of living for an audience of one, we live for an audience of many. Instead of seeking God's approval, we seek man's." (Willey, Our Journey) The passage goes onto to talk about how if we are constantly replacing God's approval with man's, we are actually committing idolatry; we are putting man before God. Yet, God is the one who wants to give us so much more approval than we could ever hope for, than we could ever get from any person. He wants to rejoice over us with gladness, quiet us with is love, and sing over us like Zephaniah says. I just think that is so cool. I tend to be a people pleaser, so this devotional hit me right where it needed to, and that verse means so much more to me now than it did before.
I want to be living for an audience of one, how 'bout u?
1 comment:
Amen! That is very thoughtful. I needed to hear that as well. One struggle I have is worrying about what others will think about me and trying to please everyone, but instead I should just receive God's already amazing approval of me!
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