When we live to honor God, we will no longer care what the world thinks of us.

 

Why do you think teenagers are so worried about what people think of them? What are some of the ways that culture forces its opinion on others? How has social media played a role in this? What would it be like to live a life where only the opinion of God mattered? How wonderful would it be to drown out all of the negativity in your life and only care about living for Christ?

 

In the movie, For Love of the Game, Kevin Costner’s character is a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in the middle of pitching a perfect game. The stadium is loud, but each time he gets ready to pitch, he says, “Clear the mechanism” and everything around him goes silent. It’s just him and the catcher. He hears nothing else, he cares about nothing else. We see this same concept played out in Ed Sheeran’s latest single called “I Don’t Care.” In the chorus, Ed talks about when he is with his baby that bad things don’t matter and that he can get through anything bad that comes his way as long as he is with her.

 

There are many times that we want to be able to “clear the mechanism” and block out all of the negativity that comes our way each day. Today’s world can be like vultures waiting to swoop down and devour any self-confidence or self-esteem we may have. But, just like in this song, if we spend our lives living for and honoring God – giving Him every second of our lives, not just Wednesdays and/or Sundays – we will notice that we don’t hear the negativity nearly as much. We notice that we can handle the bad times. God promises that He will be with us. God will not give us anything that He won’t walk with us through. The point being that we NEED God. 

 

Paul knew all too well the importance of God being the only thing that matters. In Philippians 3:1-11, he instructs the people of Philippi to beware of false teachings. He emphasizes that the flesh should not be trusted. This can absolutely apply to our culture today as we are constantly bombarded with negativity and unrealistic, ungodly expectations on social media, in school, and many other places in our lives. Paul reminds us that in Christ we have everything and nothing of this world matters compared to that.

 

One of the most common mistakes made today is that we only give a portion of our lives to Christ. Maybe we give Him a Wednesday or a Sunday, or maybe we even give Him both consistently; but that is not enough. Jesus wants to be Lord of your entire life – every second of every day. When we make that kind of commitment to Him, things begin to change for us. Life doesn’t get easier, but it becomes easier to deal with the bad times and problems that life throws at us.

 

Read Psalm 16:5-11 as a closing prayer for the time and dive into the majesty that is the Lord and give thanks that we get to be in His presence.