We have all had people in our lives we look up to. People we think really have it all together. They know what they are doing, they know why they are doing it, and they really know how to get the job done. These people can be powerful tools and resources in our lives, but is this really good for us? It can be. It's always beneficial for us to learn wisdom from those who have walked the path before us, but there is a danger with influential people in our lives as well.
How can powerful influencers be a danger? The danger is not in the influencers themselves. The danger lies in us. There is a fine line between influence and idols.
When we look up to someone, we may like what we see, like it a lot, and want to do things exactly like these people. We may take on traits and behaviors we would not have come up with on our own. And therein lies the problem. How is that a problem? From experience, I can tell you when I was trying to do things just like someone else, it never really seemed to work for me the way it did for them. I would go nuts trying to figure out why. I would talk to them and see what I needed to tweak. I would try, and seem to fail again and again. I would take more advice and do more tweaking and pretty soon started thinking, maybe I'm just not good enough. Comparing myself with the people I wanted to be like made me miserable.
I would look up to them and fall short every time. I didn't realize all the while I was taking on a condemning spirit of myself. And pretty soon it was affecting everything in my life. When things were not working for me the way I thought they should, I would beat myself up thinking there must be something wrong with me.
I spent years trying to fix myself so I could be just like my idols. When it seemed to work I would feel great about myself, and when it didn't work I would feel down. It's an awful roller coaster ride that never seems to end. It never really occurred to me perhaps this was not the plan for my life.
I never even considered God may have something totally different in mind for me. I was just so focused on my influencers/idols, I was missing out on all the things God wanted for me.
Well thank God He brought this to my attention. I am on a totally different path now and loving it. God is showing me things I never knew I could have. I didn't even know this path existed for me. I am so happy I have learned the difference between influencers and idols.
People, no matter how powerful, are not what we should look up to. We should look to our Creator, the one who made us and the one who knows the plans He has for us. We all matter, we all have a job to do, and God knows exactly what that is. We can all be happy and feel fulfilled when we do what we were created to do. If you feel stuck in this condemning pattern, this simple prayer may help:
Dear Lord, please show me what you want me to do. I receive the plan you have for my life. Guide me in the way I should go. Amen.