Ranking your rivals...

John 5:41-44 The Message
"I'm not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of My Father, and you either dismiss Me or avoid Me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?

Each one of us has the tendency to act tough and say we don't care what other people think about us. To an extent that may actually be true, but deep down inside every person there is a need to be approved and accepted by people.

I look at this passage and I just love what Jesus says. "I'm not interested in crowd approval." Jesus was here on a mission and that was to spread the Words and Love of His Father to as many people as He could and then die on the cross for all. Do you think He had time to get caught up in the daily worrying of whether or not someone liked or approved of Him? Absolutely not. He didn't come with a self righteous attitude. He says in Matthew 20:28 he came not to BE served but TO serve! The people didn't understand that and what they couldn't understand they wouldn't accept...like people often do. The key is that Jesus didn't care!

I could write this blog every day only to read the comments people write on it, or I can write it knowings its pleasing my Father and leave it at that. How often do we allow people to stand in the way of what we're put on this earth to do? We seek their approval, go out of our way to please them, we get offended by them, and we allow their words to distance us from Gods plan for our life. We fight for a position or a platform and then get upset when someone else gets it rather than seeing that its not about the position or platform at all! Its about staying true to the love of our Father and carrying out the plan He has for us alone. Jesus stayed true to what He was put here to do. Jesus knew it wasn't about how "cool" people thought He was or the "position" He had.

I love how this version says we "rank our rivals and ignore God". We forget that the only promotion that ever matters only comes from God. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of us or says of us, Gods opinion is the final answer. If we live to please Him and Him alone THEN we're modeling the life of Christ.