“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jer. 31:3 NIV).
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people (Eph. 6:7 NIV).
Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant (Gal. 1:10 NLT).
The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? (Psalm 118:6 NIV).
Dear heavenly Father, of all the traps that are easy to fall into, being shaped by what people this of us is the easiest, daily-est, and deadliest. The acceptance and affirmation of some people can be as addictive as heroin or money; the criticism and anger of others can be as disorienting and paralyzing as the venom of certain snakes; and the withdrawal and indifference of still others can fuel fear and anxieties, more so than awaiting the lab results of suspicious cells.
So Father, intensify our awareness of your great love for us in Jesus, and free us to love and serve people, as unto you—whether our kindness is acknowledged, reciprocated, or ignored. Only your love is better than life. Only through faith union and vital communion with Jesus will be experience the fulfillment of our deepest relational longings—longings that you have given us and intend to fulfill; longings that must be guarded and stewarded with the greatest care.
Help us to break the cycle of living as affirmation junkies and rejection phobia-acts. Help us to take back the power we have given certain people to either make us or break us. That’s not a power they deserve, nor one you intend for any human being to exercise.
Father, we are thankful you don’t despise our weaknesses, even when we have to confess the same things to you over and over. We long for the Day when we will be made perfect in love. Until that Day, keep freeing us from our people idolatries. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ welcoming and healing name.
