According to Robert McGee’s book, The Search for Significance, the fear of rejection limits the intimacy of our relationships. He says that “Turning to others for what only God can provide is a direct results of our acceptance of Satan’s lie:
Self worth = Performance + Others’ Opinions
I was thinking about this in relationship to our roles as parents. Could the equation be rewritten thusly:
My self-worth = Performance of my Children + Others’ Opinions (of me and my parenting)
People who believe this, and I believe that we all do sometimes, forget about the free will. I remind others–and myself–that God was the perfect “parent,” if you will, to Adam and Eve in the Garden. Yet we all know what became of that. Are you living in Satan’s lie today?
And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Col. 1:21-22
Fearless 