Need to Be Like

I was watching "The Office" reruns the other day and I heard this quote:

"Do I need to be liked?
Absolutely not.
I like to be liked.
I enjoy being liked.
I have to be liked.
But it's not like this compulsive need to be liked, like my need to be praised." ~ Michael Scott, Dunder Mifflin Paper Company (The Office)

It made me laugh! I thought, "How stupid! That is one of the saddest things I have ever heard!" And then my thought process moved to whatever else was happening in the office of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. But once the episode was over, I got to thinking about that quote again.....and again....and again! It's been a few days and I am still thinking about it.

Can God speak through a sitcom? Maybe! He definitely used that quote to make me aware of my own "need to be liked".

I think I would say exactly the same thing, "Do I need to be liked? Absolutely not!" But then my life goes on to speak the rest of that ridiculous quote. I like to be liked. I enjoy being liked. And occasionally, I have to be liked. It bothers me to no end when I think someone doesn't like me. It impacts me deeply when I think that I have offended, hurt, angered, or annoyed another person. In essence, that doesn't have to be a bad thing, but when I take it to the point that I don't do or say things that God is commanding me to, or I take my focus off of the Lord, or I fail to share things that God is doing in my life, because I'm afraid of a person's reaction, that is stupid, that is the saddest thing I have ever heard, that is when it crosses the line to sin.

Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"

Ephesians 6:7 "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men"

I was convicted once again of my need to be focused on what the LORD God Almighty thinks of me, not other people!!!! And once again I am reminded to be obedient to Him, no matter what I think someone else's reaction will be to it!!!

Hebrews 10:35-39
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while,
"He who is coming will come and will not delay.
But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

I'm not saying that with just a turn of a dime, my lifelong desire to be liked will just be mastered. No, not likely, I'm still a sinful person! I am saying though, that that is something that I am going to be continually placing into God's strong and capable hands, until that part of my sanctification process is over! The One who has called me is Faithful, and He will do it! And I will NOT shrink back!