Stop Begging People to Validate Who and What Christ Has Already Approved
If You Need People to Confirm Your Worth, You Have Given Them Authority Christ Never Gave Them
How many times does God have to show us that people cannot carry the weight of our identity?
Stop looking to people to tell you and make you consistently feel that you matter.
Stop looking to titles to make you feel important.
Stop looking to careers to make you feel successful.
Stop looking to possessions to prove you have arrived.
Stop looking to applause, followers, likes, invitations, recognition, relationships, money, accomplishments, and acceptance to validate what Christ has already declared valuable!
People can love you today and disappoint you tomorrow. People can applaud you when you are strong and disappear when you are struggling. People have their own lives, wounds, priorities, fears, ambitions, and yes—their own search for validation.
CHRIST IS NOT PEOPLE!
Galatians 1:10 (AMPC) “Now am I trying to win the favor of men, or of God? Do I seek to please men? If I were still seeking popularity with men, I should not be a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah).”
Read that again!
At some point, believers have to stop living emotionally dependent upon the approval of people.
And let me make this personal, because I am not teaching something I have never and still do sometimes struggle with myself.
I have sought validation in sports.
I have sought validation through business and professional success.
I have sought validation through relationships.
I have sought validation in places I should not be from people I didnt even know, nor care to know.
I know what it feels like to look toward accomplishments, recognition, success, things, and people hoping they will somehow reassure you that you matter.
And I have also learned something painful:
Some of the very things and people from which you sought validation can seem to vanish when your crisis becomes deepest.
When you are succeeding, people may surround you.
When you are producing, people may celebrate you.
When you are useful, people may call you.
When everything appears to be going well, people may gladly stand beside you.
Then life hits.
The storm comes.
The crisis gets real.
The wheels start coming off.
And suddenly, some of the voices you expected to hear become strangely quiet.
Some people are fighting their own battles. Some are pursuing their own goals. Some are searching for their own validation. Some simply do not have the capacity nor desire to give you what you were expecting them to provide.
That realization can hurt.
Yet it taught me where my validation should have been resting all along.
IN CHRIST!
Only in Christ have I found that completely safe and comforting place to go when it feels like the wheels are coming off.
When I cannot fix it - Christ.
When people cannot understand it - Christ.
When accomplishments cannot comfort me - Christ.
When titles suddenly mean absolutely nothing - Christ.
When relationships cannot carry the weight of what I am experiencing - Christ.
When I need somewhere to take the fear, disappointment, confusion, frustration, hurt, and uncertainty - CHRIST!
Hebrews 13:5 (AMPC) “…for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (Assuredly not!)”
THAT is validation!
Not applause.
Not popularity.
Not another title.
Not another trophy.
Not another business accomplishment.
Not another person telling you how wonderful you are.
Knowing that when everything around you feels unstable, Christ has not moved!
People may let you down.
Christ will not.
People may be unavailable during your storm.
Christ is already in the storm with you.
People may become consumed with pursuing their own validation while you are desperately searching for theirs.
STOP CHASING THEM!
Your job cannot validate you.
Your title cannot validate you.
Your bank account cannot validate you.
Your ministry cannot validate you.
Your marriage cannot validate you.
Your accomplishments cannot validate you.
Your athletic achievements cannot validate you.
And PEOPLE were NEVER supposed to carry the responsibility of validating you!
Your worth does not increase when people applaud you.
Your worth does not decrease when people overlook you.
Your identity does not disappear because somebody walked away.
And what Christ called you to do does not suddenly become invalid because somebody else refuses to recognize your need, Christ does!
When Christ becomes enough, rejection loses some of its power. Being overlooked loses some of its sting. Titles become assignments rather than identities. Accomplishments become testimonies rather than definitions of who you are. Possessions become resources rather than evidence of worth.
I have learned this personally, Everything you use to validate yourself outside of Christ has the potential to change.
Your career can change.
Your finances can change.
Your health can change.
Your relationships can change.
People can change.
Circumstances can change.
CHRIST DOES NOT CHANGE!
So child of God, how many times does the Father have to remind you who you are before you stop asking the world for a second opinion?
Question For Today
When the applause stops, the title disappears, the accomplishment fades, people become unavailable, and it feels like the wheels are coming off, will knowing that you still have Christ finally be enough to convince you that you were never supposed to get your validation from any of those things in the first place?
If You Have Ears To Hear, Then Hear It!
I pray for you each and every day.
All God's Best!
Karl McKinnie
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