You don’t have to prove anything to anyone except yourself. People will place all kinds of expectations on you if you let them. They will tell you what they think you should do based on their own lives. Much of the time, we think about what someone else will think when we’re making our decisions.
We live with an underlying sense of expectation from our parents, spouses, our friends, our boss, and our coworkers. We worry about what our political affiliates will think. We worry about what our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ will think. We worry about what our pastors will think.
But none of those people are living your life. You alone have to process your thoughts and emotions when you lay your head on your pillow night. You are the one who has to determine whether you’re following God or not.
You are the only one you have to prove anything to. You know what you’ve done, you know what you need to do, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, they can’t live out the results of your choices for you.
2 Ways
This is important in 2 ways. You have to answer to yourself for your bad decisions and mistakes. And you have to live with not giving 100% toward your calling and passions.
You have things deep within you that you know you should do, but you don’t because you’re worried what someone else will think.
And you are paralyzed with guilt and condemnation from hiding those things that no one knows but you.
Your own heart is itching for you to rise up and prove to yourself that you are not the worst parts of you, you are not your failures, you are not a worthless, perverted scumbag, or whatever else you call yourself in secret.
You are the righteousness of God in Christ with the power of Christ within your heart. You know that. You know that you can be and do much more than you are accomplishing right now.
I want to challenge you to forget about what everyone else thinks and go for it. Don’t be foolish or immoral, but seriously, quit letting your judgments about other people’s thoughts about you determine what you’ll do.
Who cares what they think?! You don’t have to be mad at them, just put them out of your head and live your life. Quit arguing with the people in the stands and run your race.
What Do You Owe Yourself?
You owe yourself honesty. You owe yourself a good attitude. You owe yourself compassion. You owe yourself some effort. Get up, get over it, get moving!
You’re the only one listening to your self-talk. You know yourself better than anyone else. Make a promise to yourself that you will not lie to yourself, you will not drag yourself down, you will not stay stuck in the past, you will not continue to see yourself in light of what someone else did to you. You are not a victim, you are a victor!!
You can live a life you can be proud of. You have God’s grace in your inner man to empower you and to teach you to live upright and godly along the way.
Get busy living, be someone you can be proud of!! You can do it, God is for you and is behind you with his unlimited resources, and he will not fail you.
