we could improve our reputation in
the community. I might have made
practical decisions about parking
and performances based on that
one man’s criticism. But I had learned
not to fear the disapproval of others.
You have the choice: you can live
to please God or to please people.
Which will it be? The answer will tell
you a lot about where you are in life.
Any time you fear someone more
than God, you allow that person to
disable you. Proverbs 29:25 calls fear
of people a snare. A snare holds you
and keeps you from going anywhere
or doing anything. Fear is the greatest
disabling condition on the planet,
and millions of people have it. They
live with disabled emotions, disabled
dreams. They constantly ask, “What
would my boyfriend think if I went all
out for my God-given dream? What
would my family think? What would
my friends think?”
The book of Proverbs also assures us
that trusting in God protects us from
death (see 14:27). Here’s one of the
greatest secrets I have learned: It’s
no use caring what other people
think about you because nobody’s
really thinking about you. People
are so self-centered that they are
always thinking of themselves and
how they are perceived. We would
fear people’s opinions a whole lot
less if we knew how infrequently they
thought of us.
You Have Been a Dream Buster More
Often Than You Think
Some guy told my dad, “You’re going
to start a work in Los Angeles? Really?
A Dream Center? What’s that? That’ll
never work. You’re wasting your time
flying out there so much.” Who was
that horrible person? Ahem. That was
me.
I recognize dream busters because I
have been one so many times—and
so have you.
One time my father-in-law, who
loved the sea, bought an old
sailboat. This thing had been so
badly abused and neglected by its
owner that it seemed hopeless. The
wood was rotting, parts were missing,
and all sorts of things were broken
and looked irreparable. I was one
of the several voices in our family
who gently mocked him for buying
it. “That thing belongs in a junkyard,”
we said. “You’ll be paying someone
to haul it away next summer.”
But he patiently worked on that
boat over the winter. He sanded the
wood, replaced broken parts, and
lacquered and painted it. By the
time we visited him again the next
summer, I was amazed. The boat
looked better than new. It had a new
mast, a new foresail, new brass parts,
and revitalized wood and interior—it
was just plain awesome. I had to eat
my words, and I realized I had been
a dream buster.
Solutions 35