Where am I looking for acceptance?

Where am I looking for acceptance?

Looking back on my Jr. High and High School years I can rattle off the names of girls who consumed my thoughts. I wanted to be accepted by these girls and for them to validate me as worthy. I was sometimes successful and other times I failed miserably - but no matter the outcome it seemed that this was a pattern that would continue to repeat itself over and over again.

I remember the girl I dated before my wife, it was my last foolish endeavor. I had looked for acceptance from girls, to validate my worth, long enough and I had to break the cycle - and that is precisely what I did. The ending was liberating, messy, but liberating. This is what we do though, right? We validate our worth by the acceptance we are able to gain in relationships.

- If my parents accept the choices I make, I have value to them.
- If a person accepts my invitation for a romantic relationship, I have value to them.

When I finally broke free I found myself judging my worth based on the only relationship that truly mattered. I find that the value God places on me is my true value. God is the creator and the constant, which makes Him able to define my worth better than any other.

Temperature has been historically measured by the expansion and "rising of mercury" because that is a constant that everyone can use so that we communicate correctly how the weather outside feels. Mercury is the constant that can be trusted because it will always react the same way.

Our mom, dad and friends are mostly constant - but they are not "flawlessly constant" like God. For us to understand what our true worth is we need to turn to the one who accepts us, because he also created us. It is through the eyes of God that our value and worth are truly seen. God's eyes are the only ones that can accurately perceive our value and it is through scripture that God communicates the value and worth He sees (and created) in us.

"The Lord is for me, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" - Psalm 118:6

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you." - 1 Peter 5:6-7

Our value - our worth - is found in the one who has the authority and is a constant that all things can, and will, be judged by. We are accepted by God; is that going to be enough for us?

Where do you look for acceptance?
Who do you let define your value and worth?
How can you begin to rely on the value and worth God has for you?