This question has been bugging me for couple days. It has become one of those things that you wish you can run from, but it just won’t leave you alone?

In a world of “me this, me that, look at what I can do that you can’t do, look at where I have been that you haven’t” how do we put God first?
We live in an age where we can be self-centered in a moment or in a picture and by slapping a word of God on the picture or using God’s words in a moment, we think people are not going to notice that we simply want to impress them.

To put it bluntly: we are obsessed with ourselves. We are obsessed with how people see us and how people think about us. Yes, we say that we don’t care about what people think about us, but why do we go to great lengths to present a “perfect image of who we are”?

Our generation is more concerned about posting perfect pictures of our lives than we are concerned about honoring God. How many times throughout the day do you and me think about how we can honor God? And how many times in a day do we think of what we are going to tell people or what we are going to post online with the goal to impress people who don’t even care about us at all?

Let’s examine ourselves: the problem

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ”. Galatians 1:10

We can’t strive to please men and at the same time please God. It doesn’t matter how many times we will try to do this, it’s. not. going. to. work. If I am consumed with my desires, my dreams, and my goals, I will not have time for God. God will be an after-thought after I have all I want and desire.
If I am consumed with me, the glory goes to me NOT to God. Someone may say, oh no, I give glory to God in all I do, but the thing with God is, He doesn’t want 95% of the glory. He wants ALL the glory.

“I am the Lord, that is My name; and my glory I will not give to another; Nor my praise to carved images”. Isaiah 42:8

He is a jealous God! He is NOT interested in some of your attention. He wants *all* your attention.

What praise

“…for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God”. John 12:43

If we were to be honest, we all want to be praised by men: we want to be praised by our parents, our teachers, our siblings, any praise we can get, we will gladly take it. And when we don’t get praise, we will do almost anything to get it.

But we need to be careful, what gets us praise from men, may not get us praise from God. Why? Because what your loved ones deem praiseworthy is Not what God sees as praiseworthy.

Verse 42 says “Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue.”

These people who believed, cared more about pleasing Pharisees more than they cared about pleasing God and having faith! Before we start pointing fingers to these people, lets’ think about this: how many times do we choose the popular thing instead of waiting on God?

We go to places we shouldn’t be going because everyone is going. We get into relationships without asking God because everyone is in relationships. We say things we shouldn’t be saying, but because everyone is saying it, we say it. The list goes on; and sadly after we do different things without involving God, later we ask Him to bless whatever we are doing! And that’s our version of obedience! No wonder we don’t hear His voice!

Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow Me”.

How in the world can we hear God, when we are not following Him?

yeah, yeah, “our words follow Him” but what about our actions?

We are prideful people who want to be liked and praised.

C.S Lewis said it perfectly:

“The point is that each person’s pride is in competition with everyone else’s pride. It is because I wanted to be the big noise at the party that I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise. Now what you want to get clear is this: Pride is essentially competitive – is competitive by its very nature – while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. If every one else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud, the pleasure of being above the rest”.

Die to self

“Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let Him deny Himself and take up His cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits His soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done”. Matthew 16:24-7

We have to take our desires, our dreams, our feelings and crucify them at Jesus’ cross. Jesus says that this is the ONLY way to follow Him. And this is the ONLY way to live life to the fullest! The life that He intended us to live!

We have to surrender everyday! Surrendering is not something you do once and you don’t have to do it again! Everyday your mind and heart have plans for the day, and you have to surrender those to God, and ask Him what He wants to do, so you can follow Him not yourself.

Most of us live in the illusion that we are following God, but truly we are following our jobs, our boyfriends/girlfriends, or our parents. What will it profit us- Christians, if we get what we want, but don’t have God?

If we profess that we love Jesus’, let our lives testify to that!

Father God, we are prone to wander, we are prone to leave You every single day. Convict us and show us any area of our lives that we are not living in godliness. Show us the things in our lives that you want us to leave behind! And give us the courage to act upon Your words. Your word cuts to the heart; so Lord, show us individually what we really have been following and please take us back Home to You. We want to repent the sin that is never far from us, but God, with You all things are possible. We want to serve You and we pray that we seek the glory that only comes from You Father. Thank You for the Cross, thank You for being selfless on the Cross, and thank You for the blood that purifies us and makes us worthy! In Jesus’s name I pray, Amen!!