Drinking poison.

Seeking affirmation from other people is drinking poison in hopes that it will satisfy.

This was me for way too long, playing a perfect, pleasing game because wasn’t that what life was all about?

But resting in the fact that there is nothing I can “do” but only what I can “be” through Jesus is such a place of desired comfort.

I no longer have to perform puppet-style but can be the real me–the one that exists because He made it so.

I love the way Ann Voskamp puts it:

Elijah confronted the people about their wavering, their sinking, between the God of Abraham and the Baal of rain. And for us, too, there are other Baals that can be our sinking. The Baal of success and the Baal of Pinterest, the Baal of perfection and the Baal of affirmation.

The Baal of affirmation. I’ve bowed down to that god one too many times in my lifetime.

But here’s something crazy: I’ve had others bow to me in their own seeking of somebody telling them they’re “good enough.”

It’s never wise to put that much stock in another human being. And it greatly disappoints the Lord who loves us when we seek His love and acceptance somewhere else.

Again, it’s easy to snag a “Hi, My Name Is” name tag and Sharpie the word “Christian” on it.

But just because we desire to be something doesn’t mean we actually are. We can’t truly know our Shepherd’s voice if all we’re willing to hear is the applause of others.

There’s a deep-seated evil inside of us if how we live in this world is based on a mere outward reflection of ourselves and no internal healing that we allow our God to do.

Because, like Jesus asked the blind man, “Do you want to be healed?”

It’s a question that has to be answered first–indicative of the fact that God can’t do anything for us if we look away from Him and to others for our worth.