Have it happened to you that, when we interact with certain people, we become overly self-conscious and feel the need to please that person. Well, it’s not with ALL people, but only with those whom we rate as “superior”.
What do you mean by superior?, you may ask.
We subconsciously assign ourselves a “rating”— and it’s always there in our mind, and we also rate someone else whom we come across. And then we subconsciously compare. It’s basic human nature to do so.
For example, we might rate ourselves as a 7 while viewing the other person as an 8. The greater the perceived difference, and if the person has a higher rating, the stronger the urge to seek their approval.
Not convinced? Okay, think about the people you interact with. Maybe, you are in leadership, and someone walks into the church, and it’s no big deal, and you are absolutely comfortable dealing with them. On the other hand, let’s say Justin Bieber walks in, you will be all ecstatic, because you consider him way way above. You may be over conscious while talking to him, or even might stutter. However, none of these happen when we talk to a “regular” believer.
However, this mindset is rooted in the flesh and is not how God calls believers to live. It’s the worldly way of doing things.
Instead of measuring ourselves by worldly standards, God wants us to abandon this rating system entirely. Our self-worth should be grounded in the value of Jesus, and we should view others through the same lens—recognizing their worth in Christ rather than through human comparison. Jesus interacted out of pure love, treating everyone as equals, and we should do the same too.
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