We all want attention.  Even people who don’t want attention want attention…. Maybe not as much as others, but still…. If people didn’t want attention, we wouldn’t have social media.  After all—how often do you go to Facebook, Instagram, or wherever you have your social media profiles, looking to see how many “likes” or comments you got?  We post selfies, supper, and share opinions in anticipation of getting a reaction or response.

We want people to understand who we are and how we think.  We want them to know what we think about everything, from our opinion about a restaurant to our opinion about politics.  We want to explain ourselves and tell others our perspectives. We want our voice to be heard.  Our culture practically demands that we share our lives.  So we put our best image forward when it comes to ourselves. And amazingly, we’re convinced that if we bestow our opinions and feelings on the world, everything will be better.

But as someone way wiser than me once said, “God gave us one mouth and two ears, so we can listen more than we speak.”

What if we did that? What if we talked less and listened more? What if we stopped trying to be the center of our own universe? What if, instead of telling everyone the things about me, me, me—we started focusing on He, He, He? And what if, of all the things we want to tell the world, we simply told them to Jesus?

• Jesus told us to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). I don’t have a kingdom. So any attempt to create one is a figment of my imagination. I need to focus on His.
• Paul told the Colossians (and us) to set our minds on heavenly things, not earthly things (Colossians 3:2). My earthly things break and rust (Matthew 6:19), but my heavenly treasures will endure forever (Matthew 6:20).
• Mankind (including my own stupid choices) will let me down (Micah 7:5-8), but the prophet Jeremiah reminds me that I will be blessed if I will trust in the Lord (Jeremiah 17:7). Plus, when my faith is weak, Hebrews 12:2 reminds me that Jesus is the author of my faith and He can replenish it. I just need to have the wisdom to ask for it—and according to James 1:5, God gives wisdom generously when I do.

There is no accomplishment or opinion I can share to compare to the gift I have been given—grace. Not because of anything I have done, but totally because of what Jesus has done (Ephesians 2:8-9). At the end of it all—I am the clay. He is the Potter. Not the other way around (Isaiah 64:8).

We may wonder about the reasons and whys of people’s choices…. We may feel compelled to share our own feelings and think that we need to explain ourselves to the world. And at times, yes, we need to. Certainly, we need to be bold to share the Gospel, but that’s not about us; that’s about Jesus. We need to share our testimony, but again, it’s not what we have done, but what He has done for us!

The challenge I have before me and that I’m sharing with you—are you showing the world more of you? Or more of Jesus?