“Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” Romans 2:1-16 ESV
I have found in my own life that the fear of what other people might think about me has caused me a great deal of issues, simply put, I can honestly say that it has caused fear in my life. And guess what? This is another weapon that my enemy will gladly use against me. He knows by nature that I am a selfish individual and he is really good at capitalizing on this weakness to take me off the path and hold me back from the freedom that has already been bought and paid for.
Too often this fear of what others think about me comes directly from a problem of judgement about myself. I do or don't do certain things for fear of being judged by others. Often this is because I have judged others too harshly. (Yes, I am telling on myself but this is what this blog is for. If I struggle, odds are someone else does too!)
Our enemy, devious as he is, will lead us into this trap and we will become unwitting victims of his plan to sabotage ourselves and our relationships by self centered thinking. When I am self centered everything anyone says to me is filtered through my insecurity and I can hear things that were never said. Let me repeat that in case you missed it: When I am self centered everything anyone says to me is filtered through my insecurity and I can hear things that were never said. When I pass unfair judgement on other people I condemn myself. Paul says as much in Romans 2:1, "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things." If I had the knowledge to take a step back, remove the false lenses of my insecurity, and stop judging other people I could save myself a lot of energy and time.
We all need to gain emotional maturity that comes only from knowing who we are. The only way to get there is to take a step outside of yourself long enough to understand that the reality that people don't think about us the way we perceive them to think. The truth is they may be worried about the way we think about them.
The only reason I fear what others think is because I am projecting my own negative thoughts on others. I simply assume they must think the same way I do. If I am looking at myself through my own insecurity I run the risk of thinking everyone else sees me the same way. Thus causing an unrealistic fear of what others think about me.
No one is exempt from this feeling or this lie that our enemy is perpetrating just like no one is exempt from self centered thinking or actions. We all have an underlying desire to be accepted and loved for who we are. The problem comes when I live under the unrealistic fear that I will not be accepted and I allow it to warp my behavior and stain the person that God has intended for me to be. I can't find my identity in what others think about me and neither can you. People don't think about me or you in the way we think they think about us.
“Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.” 2nd Corinthians 10:12 ESV
I have found in my own life that the fear of what other people might think about me has caused me a great deal of issues, simply put, I can honestly say that it has caused fear in my life. And guess what? This is another weapon that my enemy will gladly use against me. He knows by nature that I am a selfish individual and he is really good at capitalizing on this weakness to take me off the path and hold me back from the freedom that has already been bought and paid for.
Too often this fear of what others think about me comes directly from a problem of judgement about myself. I do or don't do certain things for fear of being judged by others. Often this is because I have judged others too harshly. (Yes, I am telling on myself but this is what this blog is for. If I struggle, odds are someone else does too!)
Our enemy, devious as he is, will lead us into this trap and we will become unwitting victims of his plan to sabotage ourselves and our relationships by self centered thinking. When I am self centered everything anyone says to me is filtered through my insecurity and I can hear things that were never said. Let me repeat that in case you missed it: When I am self centered everything anyone says to me is filtered through my insecurity and I can hear things that were never said. When I pass unfair judgement on other people I condemn myself. Paul says as much in Romans 2:1, "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things." If I had the knowledge to take a step back, remove the false lenses of my insecurity, and stop judging other people I could save myself a lot of energy and time.
We all need to gain emotional maturity that comes only from knowing who we are. The only way to get there is to take a step outside of yourself long enough to understand that the reality that people don't think about us the way we perceive them to think. The truth is they may be worried about the way we think about them.
The only reason I fear what others think is because I am projecting my own negative thoughts on others. I simply assume they must think the same way I do. If I am looking at myself through my own insecurity I run the risk of thinking everyone else sees me the same way. Thus causing an unrealistic fear of what others think about me.
No one is exempt from this feeling or this lie that our enemy is perpetrating just like no one is exempt from self centered thinking or actions. We all have an underlying desire to be accepted and loved for who we are. The problem comes when I live under the unrealistic fear that I will not be accepted and I allow it to warp my behavior and stain the person that God has intended for me to be. I can't find my identity in what others think about me and neither can you. People don't think about me or you in the way we think they think about us.
“Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.” 2nd Corinthians 10:12 ESV
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