Focusing on Christ has been a challenge for me recently. I have put a lot of my energy into pleasing my husband. I would put the blame on myself if he is having a bad day at work or if he were stressed I would think it is something I did. For some reason I put my focus on everything my husband thought, and if he wasn’t happy it had to be something I did. It was so silly because most of the time he didn’t even know I was thinking this way and he would just be stressed out about work and not me. I don’t know why I cared more about what my husband thought of me than what my Heavenly Father thought about me. I feel I was trying to live to gain acceptance from my husband and not living for God.
Have you ever been in this situation where you worry about other’s opinions more importantly than whom God thinks you are? I found myself so consumed with pleasing my husband and acting a certain way that I lived in bondage and enslaved to some identity I wasn’t. Finding my true identity comes from Christ alone. When we find that identity we can be transformed by the way we think and act and not by the world. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) I realized through prayer that I was already accepted by God and didn’t need the acceptance of others. GOD sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and to show me that I am already qualified by my relationship with Him. He doesn’t need to accept me because it has already been done on the cross. How powerful is that? Therefore, Christ set us free to live a life without bondage. “Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in the yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
Finding real freedom gives you favor with God and not man. Man looks on the outside but God looks on the inside. As he spoke to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) I have found what my heart longs for and it is to be in constant communion with Christ and my relationship with Him is the most important part of my life, not my kids or my husband. Thank you God for accepting me for who I am and showing me that my true identity comes from you!
