Trust in the Lord with all your heart… Proverbs 3:5
The diagnosis no one wants…
Cancer.
Breast Cancer…
The cancer was advanced.
Radical surgery was the only option…
Her coworkers were shocked to hear the news…
Weeks passed…
She was still not back at her desk…
“We should send her a card,” thought Emily…
So she bought the card and passed it around for everyone to sign.
Someone else took the card to the boss to sign.
“What a great thing for you to do,” said the boss to the coworker. “Thanks for making the effort to buy the card and get it signed.”
The coworker said nothing.
“But I bought the card,” Emily thought.
“I made the effort. I should get the praise. I should get the recognition…”
“Why,” she asked me a few days later, “do I need recognition for everything I do?”
“I want to be more like Jesus. He didn’t seek recognition.
I was just sending a card, and I wanted everyone to know. He healed people and told them not to tell anyone…”
And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone…” Mark 1:43-44
How, we both wondered, did Jesus find the strength to live like that?
Could it be because he knew he was accepted by God?
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” ~ Mathew 3:17
If only the sky would open and God would proclaim to everyone that He is pleased with me….Just as I am…maybe then I would have all the recognition I need…
Oh, wait…
He has said that…
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Why do we hear those words and still search for recognition?
Is our faith too small?
Or is it misplaced?
Do we seek recognition for ourselves because that’s where we really place our faith?
Do we trust in ourselves more than we trust in God?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
2 thoughts on “I Want Recognition!”
This phenomenon that you described (craving recognition) is something that my husband refers to as, “Where do you want your parade?” I think part of the issue is that we want to know that what we do today has significance, i.e., we struggle with our own significance. Thanks for the reminder that our eternal significance is wrapped up with Jesus Christ and that what we do for and in the name of Jesus will always matter regardless of human praise.
“Where do you want your parade?” What a great way to encapsulate our desire for significance!
Isn’t it interesting how our focus on our own supposed significance blinds to the only One with real significance?