The Voice

I have heard people say they don't care what others think and some may actually believe they are emotionally autonomous, most are trying to convince themselves. I remember when I was a young preacher and someone would rag on me, my off-handed response would be that "everyone has the right to a wrong opinion."  That was my outside voice; my inner voice had a different message intirely - a word of rejection. 

The reality is that we care what is thought of us. For some, their own opinion of self is the most important voice. For most, it is the acclaim and/or acceptance of others that speaks the loudest. Too often we listen too much to the wrong voices, voices meant to pull us down or take us down a wrong path. 

Peer groups, media outlets, magazines, self-inflated bigots, self-proclaimed experts, the list of wrong-headed and/or wrong-hearted voices goes on. Even well-intentioned voices of family, friends and co-workers can be way off base in the assessing your worth department. And you may be the worst of the lot.  As the apostle Paul put it, "When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise" (2 Cor 10:12b). 

The simple truth is that while input from others and even from self can and often should be weighed, that assessment is not complete or truly accurate until we we present our lives to the One who really knows us and what we are called to be and do compared with who we really are and what we actually do.  "For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends" (2 Cor 10:18). 

To discover our true worth and potential, as well as our areas of lacking, it is necessary to go to the Father. Time spent in His Word, in devotion and in prayer is where we can hear The Voice that really matters.  Jus' Sayn.