When you allow people to define who you are, you’re actually placing yourself in a prison of insecurity. It will hold you hostage by causing you to question your every decision and thought. “Does this look good on me?” “Should I have said that?” “Should I get married since everyone thinks he/she is perfect for me?” Pretty soon, you don’t even trust your own gut feelings. It doesn’t matter if it is friends, family, or even strangers, it’s never a good idea to be controlled by what others do or think. You are not defined by people or circumstances but by the person you choose to be. Looking to others as a measure of your self-worth will keep you on an emotional roller coaster ride that goes on forever. The only one you should look to for validation . . . is God! 1 Thessalonians 2:4 tells us, “Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.” God did not create you to change yourself into what others “want” you to be, whether that be parents, spouses, friends or even your boss. JUST BE YOU! Be the person that God wants you to be and nothing more. The only way to do that is to listen to what He is telling you - not everyone else. Most people today struggle with being themselves. There’s so much “fake” in the world that people are living a lie just to create an illusion that their lives are perfect. Their energy is spent designing this facade to make others envious of their life when the truth is all those photos on social media are photoshopped; they’re actually sad and miserable. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, if you want real joy, real peace, and real happiness in your life - choose to get your validation from God and only God!
1 Samuel 16:7 KJV - But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
Proverbs 31:30 KJV - Favour [is] deceitful, and beauty [is] vain: [but] a woman [that] feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
1 John 2:15-17 KJV - Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Galatians 1:10 KJV - For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.