Broken Integrity
What Others Think – Part 1

Scripture Reading: Galatians 2:11-16

Key Verse: Galatians 2:12

Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.

If you read the entire suggested reading section for today, it will give you a picture of brokenness in one of God’s people.  The Apostle Peter was still broken in this area of being overly concerned about what others thought of him.  Let’s learn some essential lessons from this story!

First, I believe a refreshing lesson is that a man of Peter’s spiritual status still struggled with some brokenness in his life.  When we trust the gift of God for our salvation, through Jesus, it would be great if that immediately fixed all brokenness in our lives.  It didn’t in Peter’s life and it doesn’t in our lives either.  Good, sincere Christ followers still need to continually watch for areas of growth in their journey with God.  These areas of growth are areas that reveal brokenness in our lives and God reveals it in order to fix it!  Don’t allow the evil one to shame you into hiding your areas of need.  This shame will drain you of energy needed to face and fix the broken areas of your life.

The second lesson gets to the heart of our scriptural passage: Don’t be overly concerned about what others think of you.  In tomorrow’s devotional, I deal with this concept of “overly,” but today, let’s determine to live our lives for an audience of One!  God’s opinion is the only one that truly matters.

Father, help me to stay focused on what you think through this day.  I ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.