Friday February 6-Philippians 2:19-30-Tripp

There is no need to be paralyzed by the opinions of another.

God gives you the ultimate tool of self-assessment, the mirror of his Word.

It was twelve pages long, the kind of letter no one really wants to get. I didn’t want to read it, but I knew I had to. She took me apart like a coroner doing an autopsy. Each paragraph was like a knife cutting into a different organ, searching for disease. The judgment was harsh and unrelenting. The examples of my failures in her eyes were many. There was little grace to be found in those twelve pages. When I got to the end of the letter, I felt that there was nothing left of me. I sat at my desk stunned. I was her pastor, but she had no respect for me whatsoever. I couldn’t believe what I had read and I was paralyzed by the thought that others felt the same way. I felt glued to the seat, unable to move, without strength to continue. The next morning was worse. I woke up with a knot in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to run, to quit.

Now, no opinions of people should have that power, but often they do. Without knowing it, we put our identity and inner peace in the hands of the people around us. We look to them for what no flawed human being will ever be able to deliver. We ride the roller coaster of their views of us. We begin to do things not because they are right, but because we know they will please those whose opinion of us and acceptance of us mean more than they should. I think fear of man is a bigger motivation for many of us than we tend to admit.

The gospel of Jesus Christ frees us from this. First and foremost, it presents to us the only reliable standard of self-evaluation—the perfect mirror of the Word of God. Then it frees me from seeking my identity horizontally because I am given an eternal identity in Christ. It also frees me from being worried about being known or exposed because I know that nothing could ever be exposed about me that hasn’t already been covered by the precious blood of Jesus. Further, it allows me to be approachable when people bring things to me that I need to hear and evaluate. I can do this because I know I’m a sinner and I know that the grace that has been given to me is greater than all of my sin. Finally, I am not worried about or haunted by what you think of me because I don’t look to you for my inner sense of well-being. No matter how little I am appreciated by those around me, no matter how little I am understood, no matter how little I am loved, and no matter how little respect comes my way, I can go to bed in peace knowing that the one person who counts knows me thoroughly, but he will never turns his back on me even in light of his complete knowledge of my sin, weaknesses, and failures. Now, that’s a reality that can free you from your bondage to the opinion of others.