In today’s first reading from Exodus 32, Moses has a little heart-to-heart with God, asking Him to relent from destroying His people. And God relented. A wonderful statement on the power of prayer. And in the Gospel reading from John 5, Jesus talks about accepting praise. He says, “I do not accept human praise.” And to the Jews, He says, “How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?”
Jesus didn’t need praise or approval from other people. In fact, quite the contrary. He said an awful lot of things that ticked off an awful lot of people. But it didn’t matter to Him. He knew He was doing the Father’s will. And that was His ultimate motivation.
Seeking praise from others is something that I struggled with a lot. It used to be very important to me. But I've found that as I've grown older and grown in my spiritual walk, it matters less and less to me what others think. I hope that I'm concentrating more on what God thinks. I'm not great at it yet, but I'm working on it!
Father, forgive us for those times when we turn our backs on you, just to win the approval of people. Show us today Your will, and give us the grace to accomplish it, regardless of what others think. Amen.
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