Too Much Information..

I hate to admit it...I mean, really there is such a thing as too much information, but I'm going to go ahead and say it anyway...I sometimes watch decorating shows.

But I don't really enjoy it and it's only because my wife makes me.

Enough excuses?

Anyway.

There's show called Moving Up. One person buys another persons house and then redecorates it. After a while the old owner comes back through and gives his opinion on the job they did. Then the new owner watches the old owner share what he thinks.

And you know what's amazing to me?

Almost every time, and I mean almost every time...they actually care. And when I say care, I'm talking the new owners really care. They really care what the old owner thinks about their decorating job.

Now, they don't know the old owner. They probably will never spend time with the old owner. I doubt they are going to ever see the old owner again.

But still...they really want the old owners to think they did a good job.

It's funny and it's sad because that's so me and that's so us. Maybe not with decorating...honestly, I can't imagine caring too much about that...but with other people's approval in general. I guess it's not too big a deal if you want other people to think you did a good job decorating your house, but what can easily happen is that we become so concerned about what the other person thinks about us that it controls us.

If you've been there, you know as well as I do, it's tiring.

That's one of the beautiful things about the gospel. It frees me up from being enslaved to the approval of others...because you know what the gospel tells me? One thing it tells me is that on my own, I'll never be good enough. There I've said it. I'll never be good enough, smart enough, interesting enough, beautiful enough, popular enough, important enough to earn God's favor. And yet, a second thing the gospel tells me is that it doesn't matter because that's not how God saves people anyway. It's all about mercy and grace. I can enjoy the full, eternal, approval of God and I don't have to earn it. I couldn't even if I tried. I just have to trust and rely on what Jesus did to earn it for me.