Mar 10, 20242 min read

Day 327 - Are You Concerned with How You Look to Others?

Do you worry about how you look to others? If so, it is destructive to your relationship with God.

Do you struggle with wanting to do something because of how it will make you look to others? Status is significant to many people. Most of us will face this situation at some point in our lives. It is so easy to consider ourselves with high esteem. Yet that is a sure path to sin. We must remember that in God's view, each of us is no better than others, and to want to do or say something because of what others will think of us is a path to failure and separation from the Heavenly Kingdom and God.

Jesus related this story so we can understand.

When you get a request to come to a feast, do not take the best seat, for a more important man than you may be coming,

And then the giver of the feast will come to you and say, Give your place to this man; and you, with shame, will have to take the lowest seat.

But when you come, go and take the lowest seat, so that when the giver of the feast comes, he may say to you, Friend, come up higher; and then you will have honour in the eyes of all the others who are there.

For every man who gives himself a high place will be put down, but he who takes a low place will be lifted up. (Luke 14.8-11 Bible in Basic English (BBE))

Prayer:

Lord, forgive me for placing myself and my importance before others. I struggle to keep myself in check at times, and I understand that these are moments where I forget that, in your eyes, I am perfect. In being perfect, there is no need to prove something to others. There is only the knowledge that being perfect in God's eyes is all that matters, and therefore, I can happily stand back and let the attention fall on those in need. Help me remember you are always all I need. With gratitude, I will stand in the back and feel joy doing so. I pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen