They loved the praise of men . . .

Thumbing through my trusty Good Book this morning in search of inspiration, encouragement, and a commonsense approach to life as we know it, my eyes fell upon one simple but awesomely powerful sentence out of the Book of John.

In discussing those who had witnessed the works of Jesus firsthand but who could not bring themselves to align with him because they didn't want to be kicked out of the synagogue, i.e. their comfort zone, John writes, "For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."

Eureka! That's it! That's the crux of the problem we all face now -- that what other people think is a bigger driver than what an entity we cannot easily see with our eyes or hear with our ears thinks. The invisibility of God as a distinct being is what I think confounds a lot of disbelievers. If they cannot see, hear, feel with their very limited human senses, then whatever it is they're trying to discover must not be real.

That makes it so much easier, then, to seek out and even crave the praise of other people. This is what peer pressure is, what cliques are, what going along to get along is all about.

This is what caused folks like Bernie Madoff to defraud folks of millions of dollars, what compels people who have no business in public office to run for the position, what drives the Hollywood crowd to say and do literally anything to be noticed, lauded, lambasted or otherwise mentioned.

All of them, ALL of them, care or cared more about the praises of men than about being accountable to God. Their egos clouded their judgment and the results were either immediately or eventually devastating.

Gosh. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

Could it be, could it REALLY be, that abject rejection of a higher power actually brings about crappy lives?

Now, that's not to say that even the best people don't walk through their share of valleys. They do, but the difference is that they have an impetus to get out of those valleys as quickly as possible, all the while drawing closer to God in an effort to learn more of His goodness, more of His way.

I'm not trying to be preachy, here, but I do think John's observation is as applicable today as it was nearly 2000 years ago.

Acting because you want the acceptance of others rather than acting because of a higher sense of integrity and a desire to be accountable to the Source of that sense, will inevitably bring you to ruin. Maybe not today, maybe not next year, but somewhere in some way you will reap the whirlwind.

Shut out the praises of men and instead listen closely to the God Who is there.

Like radio waves that fill the air 24/7, God is always speaking to us. We just need to tune in and figure out what He's saying.