Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God?
Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people,
I would not be a servant of Christ.
Galations 1:10
Today's devotion was about straying away from the path God has planned for me. I confess, I haven't been very diligent in my daily devotions and spending time with God these few days. Too caught up with the hype of the drama and too selfish, pushing away my precious time with God to satisfy some of my own earthly wants. But today's devotion got me thinking. We all, or at least most Christians would have memorised the verse
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. -Jeremiah 29:11.
This verse is definitely a verse I myself use many times to encourage my friends and myself through tough times. However, I need to question myself, do I really truly believe in it? This is something I definitely have to confess because I'm still struggling to live by this verse. To be able to feel assured and comforted by it. God loves all of us. His beloved children.
As I enter a new phase of my life, to a new school with a different kind of environment, I feel so at lost. I'm afraid and worried. Am I making the right choice? Did I make the right choice? Is this what God has planned for me? What if I dont achieve what I had in mind? What if I dont like this? What if I regret. All these doubts are always lingering at the back of my mind.
I feel so ashamed that even though I tell myself to pin all my fears to the cross and only fear God and not men, I still feel that I need to please men. To prove to those people that discourage me, that brought me so much misery and unhappiness.
That is why I felt that today's verse really spoke to me. Reassuring me but yet forcing me to slowly change my mind about things and to really do it for God and not men.
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"Mark 8:36
Anyway, on a side note, happy birthday. :) Though we won't see each other anytime soon or maybe ever, it has been a great 3 years on my part. Cheers to all the things you didn't know and may you have a blessed and fun birthday!