Who are you trying to impress?

At one time or another we all try to impress someone.  It has been said that "we buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like."  That may be true for many of us at least in America where credit is so easy to get and so hard to pay off.
It seems that many of us have to have the latest gadget, newest car, etc.  I'm not sure why that is but I'd like to share with you some of my ideas on this topic. 
All the advertisements we see and hear are geared toward making us want the newest item, the best of things, even this credit card over that one because this one will make us popular and the envy of all our friends so we are made to believe.  They are all designed to make us covet something we don't have so that we can "impress" someone and feel important if only for a short time. I think that is what is all boils down to: feeling important. From the clothes we wear to the car we drive to the neighborhood we live in; its all to impress others so that we are more important, more powerful, more influential.  And you know something?  It works!  We tend to promote those into positions of authority over us that "seem" successful, that look the part.

However, God is not impressed, not with that anyway.  Do you know what pleases Him?  Obedience!
First and foremost God wants us to love Him with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength. If we will do that, then we will want to obey His laws; stay within his boundaries and live a life that is pleasing to Him.  I challenge you to read your Bible. Notice the way ordinary people and not so ordinary people pleased God.  It was through obedience every time!  And do you know what?  It wasn't easy for those people to be obedient. No!  They had nay sayers who opposed them. Those who made trouble for them simply because they chose to obey God rather than man.  It takes courage to do the right thing instead of going with popular opinion.  Even Noah had many who made fun of him for building the Ark. Jeremiah, the "weeping" prophet was given a not so popular message to proclaim and he was put in jail and almost killed for it!  Ezra and Nehemiah were opposed greatly for rebuilding the temple and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem even though they had been given the authority by a king to do so!!!
Do you think these people who were obedient to God were trying to impress others?  If they had been, then don't you think they would have given up in the face of adversity?
Instead they were being obedient to God who gave them courage to do what was right in the face of opposition.
Recently we just had presidential elections.  I would love to see a candidate stand for what is right and bring this country back to God than to pander to popular opinion and trying to impress others with what he or she can do for them rather than trying to be a godly leader.

I challenge each of you who read this devotion to live your lives in obedience to what God wants for your life.  It won't always be easy and you may face opposition and ridicule.  Most likely you won't impress those who won't understand.  But you will impress God. You will please Him!
And after all, isn't that what matters more?