People Bondage: Part Two
Hey, there! How excited are you that it's Friday?! I know I am, because not only is it the start of the weekend, but because we get to address people bondage!
Before we dive in, how did everyone do with the challenge from last week? What issues with acceptance has God revealed to you? How helpful was it meditating on Galatians 1:10? I know for me, God is still revealing layers upon layers on my issue with acceptance. He's begun to show me where my craving for people pleasing first began. Galatians 1:10 also helped me A LOT this week. Every time I questioned what people would think of me, I immediately recalled this verse. My first test was right after I posted the blog last Friday: as soon as I hit "publish" my mind asked, "What will people think? Will they think I am trying to be a know-it-all? Will they think I have no clue as to what I am talking about?" Blah. Blah. Blah.
For today, I found this article that just about wrecked me! Here's a line from the
:
"People-pleasing, the fear of man, self-esteem, the quest of acceptance and approval are ways of describing the phenomena connected to the root sin of pride."
My first thought:
Huh?! How can I be prideful if I have no confidence?
But as I continued to read, it started to make sense. The quest for positive affirmation makes life about us.com when it should be about HIM.com.org.net.edu.etc. "Oh people like me because
I
am nice. People think I am good because
I
know how to not sin." It becomes all about
I
. We start looking at our abilities, talents, and strength (or lack thereof) to validate us as if we gave those things to ourselves.
Follow me for a sec: think of your heart as a mansion; one with many rooms. One room is labeled VALUE. People-pleasers tend to try to fill that room with things that praise ourselves: affirmation from other people such as achievements, compliments, popularity, etc. People see your room full of these things and praise you even more. The more praise you get, the more you want. You're never fully satisfied with all you have in your room, so you constantly search for more to fill up your room. Your pride begins to grow and you start feeling yourself. BUT what you didn't realize was all of that "stuff" was really vapor. A mirage. You look closely and see that all of that stuff is starting to fade away, and the people who were praising you are now shaking their heads and laughing as they walk away.
What we have to realize is that only God can adequately fill the void of that "room" in our hearts. He will put things in there that won't fade away. We'll begin to realize the value of the His affirmations in our room that we won't desire any other affirmation, but His. We'll begin to realize that our value comes from Jesus Christ alone. We're worthy because He says we are. We're not like how we used to be because it was HIM that worked in us. We didn't change our heart, His grace did. Our identity is in Christ. Whew, I am preaching to myself on this one!
So what's the challenge until next Friday? First, please read the article! I left out so much and the author really has some great points. Second, sit down with God and ask Him to begin to fill that room of your so that you are confident in who you are through Him. Third, meditate on the verses in the picture below. I really hope this has helped you as much as it has helped me!
Taken from my bible
Love you, sis!
Tiffany