Compliments make us happy, filled up and surrounded by love. Small gestures of kindness make our days and surprises make us smile. But how often do we rely on these compliments, gestures and surprises? How often do we wait around for someone close to us to say how nice we look or ask us how our day was? There's a problem with this type of mindset: waiting for the affirmation of others will only diminish our self esteem. People aren't perfect. They cannot guess that we had a bad day and need a compliment to lift our spirits. Everyone has their own burdens, and if we expect others to constantly be lifting us up, then we will continually be dropped on our heads. We cannot rely on people.
But we can rely on our perfect Savior, who compliments us every day. He tells us in His word that we are made perfectly in his image and that we should rejoice and be confident in Him. According to Joel Osteen's podcast "Don't Rely On Other People," we will always find our loved ones 80% fulfilling and 20% flawed, and often this leads us to search for that other 20% in other people... who are also missing another 20%. We will never find someone who compliments us 100%, except Christ. This is why it is so important to be confident in ourselves in Christ and not wait around for others to do what we secretly hoped they would do - that little compliment, that sought after kiss, that simple vote of affirmation.
Proverbs 3:26 says plainly: "For the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught." Not only will we be able to be confident in ourselves through Christ, we know that our Lord will help us to have humble confidence and keep us from becoming arrogant and caught in the haughty confidence that the world often tells us is okay, fulfilling, and what we should be striving for. Not only will this type of confidence be detrimental, it is not eternal. Sooner or later confidence rooted in money, looks, or other worldly things will crack and break. Then what will be left? On the other hand, confidence rooted in Christ will never cease, never break, never crack. He is eternal, and through the acceptance of Him into our lives, we deserve the beautiful love and confidence that he gives to us.
So do not rely on the things of the world, on your looks, your money, your possessions, your friends and family. Do not rely on people. Rely on the wonderful Savior Jesus Christ, who will never fail, never let us wallow in self doubt. He lets us flourish, grow, and understand our value and self-worth.
