YOUR HAIR LOOKS WEIRD
I should’ve known better. Never place your ego in the hands of a three-year-old. While visiting my son’s family one evening, I was reading to my granddaughter Kylie, who was three at the time. “I have a secret to tell you,” I said. Leaning in, I whispered in her ear, “God thinks you’re great; and so do I.”
I then asked, “Do you have a secret to tell me?” I expected her to reply with some ego-building compliment such as, “I think you’re great too, Grandpa.” What a mistake! I leaned in as she shared her secret. “Your… hair… looks… weird!”
It set me back for a moment. Really? Of all the secrets she could share with her adoring grandfather, that was all she could muster up? Besides I wondered, what’s so weird about my hair? But then I paused and laughed out loud. Leave it to a child to give you an honest answer.
The Lord used this to teach me a valuable lesson. Where does my identity, my sense of security, and well-being lie? In what God says about me, or in what others think of me—even if they’re only three years old.
In Galatians 1:10 Paul wrote, “I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant” (NLT). Elsewhere he declared, “It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion” (1 Corinthians 4:3, MSG). In 1 Corinthians 1:31 he adds, “Whoever brags must brag about what the Lord has done” (GW). Not our wisdom, our power, our possessions… or our hair!
Blatant self-honesty forces me to admit, what others think of me matters far too much. I’m guessing I’m not alone. That’s why we wear ourselves out, meticulously monitoring the number of likes on our Facebook posts, the kind of car we drive, our bank account, and yes, our hair. We expend exorbitant energy attempting to impress others. But how much time do others really devote to thinking about us? They’re so consumed with chasing after what others think of them, they don’t pause long enough to worry about us. Remember, God’s opinion is the only one that matters, and He thinks we’re great. No matter what anyone says or thinks about me, even if I do have “weird hair.”
Principle: What others think of me matters far too much.
Promise: God’s opinion is the only one which matters, and he thinks we’re great.
Ponder:
On a scale of one to ten, how much energy do I devote to worrying over what others think of me?
How can I switch my concern over what others think of me to what God thinks of me?
Pursue: For a deeper dive, study 1 Corinthians 4:1-5.
Prayer: “Lord, set me free from the opinions of others, so that your concern is all that matters.”
Perceptions: Record any ideas God puts on your heart from today’s devotion.