His Opinion is the Only One that Counts
by Margaret Davies
I was struck by the statement ‘His Opinion is the Only One that Counts’ and how this is so true, when you’re seeking to walk out your life with Jesus. It is only God's view, His judgements, and His appraisal of us that counts, not anything we may have picked up from what others say or from our life’s journey.
We’re all influenced and affected by so many things as we walk through life, and these can affect us either for good or bad. If we were always criticised, when we were growing up, we can feel very low about ourselves. If a parent, relative or close friend constantly put us down saying we were never any good, or we’d always fail, or similar negative statements, we need to be able to take those to the Lord, and forgive those who spoke this way. Then we need to ask the Lord to reveal to us His opinion about those cruel words.
But if we’ve received love and affirmation, it causes us to blossom and develop like flowers into the people God wants us to be. However, even if we haven’t received that sort of love and affirmation, and our story is one of negative words, abuse, and continual putting down, God can still transform us into a new person. We must come to Him and bring all the cruel, bad things to Him, asking Him to change the way we think.
His forgiveness and love are very powerful tools when we allow Him to come and take away any bitterness we have. As we forgive those who’ve damaged us, it releases us into a new freedom. It’s God’s opinion of us that counts, not that of our parents, our husbands, or our best friends. Only God’s opinion counts.
God is the one who transforms us into that new person. As it says in our scripture for today ‘but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think" (Romans 12:2). It’s only when we allow Him to have His way and we’re willing to lay down the hurts, the pain, the criticisms, or other people’s opinions of us, that we can move into that freedom. Let the Lord come to you today, and let His transforming power cleanse and renew you and set you free to live for Jesus every day.
Let’s not be like the verse in Proverbs 18:2 which states ‘A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions’. Instead, let’s not be foolish, but come to Jesus and allow Him to show us that it’s God’s opinion of us that counts.
Prayer: Father, we come to You today and ask You to forgive us for the times we’ve allowed other people’s opinions of us to influence our thinking and our lives. We want to release ourselves afresh into Your hands and ask that allow You to challenge our thinking, and transform us into the people You want us to be. Amen.
Margaret Davies is married to Trevor whom she met and married in Israel where she worked in various ministries for almost 10 years. They joined Ellel Ministries in Scotland in 2002 where they served for almost 13 years, and have just recently left the full time team at Blairmore House. They are presently living in a small village in North Essex, and Margaret enjoys baking, gardening and walking.
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