judgment.

If you care too much or at all (?) what people think, isn't that making them your god? It gives them a sense of judgment over you. Not by their choosing but by your force. Placing judgment in their hands. Placing them before the heavenly Father. If we walk around always wondering what other people are thinking about us, trying to please them, we habitually begin to place them on priority.

Even though I highly fail at this, it is my desire to please God alone. Sure, I could please fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who strive to do the same, but honestly, they're gonna fail just as much as myself. So, no, I don't want to please them. Again, I think thats what it means to truly keep God first. It's his standards I wanna live by. Not man's. God is the author of the ultimate "rule book" (Deut. 6:18, 1 John 5:3). Everyone else doesn't abide by it or even hold it in high regard. Thus, we make men idols when we try to live by their standards. When we try to meet their worldly, godless, empty, temporal expectations. Face it. We're sinners. Each and every one of us.

Whoa. In reverse, I think I understand better what it means when God tells us not to judge someone. We are, in a roundabout ugly way, attempting to make ourselves Jesus. We make ourselves their god. We have absolutely no basis or ground on which to stand in such regard. Jesus is the judge. Let's leave that up to him. Let's just strive to love people. That's what he asks of us. To love. It's all summed up in that one command.