Emotionally Healthy Discipleship: Moving from Shallow Christianity to Deep Transformation

by Peter Scazzero

It is important to note that Jesus doesn’t criticize the fundamental human desire to be popular, but he does redirect it. He wants us to shift our desire from focusing on people to focusing on the Father. At the end of our earthly journey, he wants to be able to say to each of us, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). This is the only affirmation that will ever truly satisfy our desire for recognition. The longing to be popular—to be loved, enjoyed, and accepted—is God-given, but it is also unquenchable this side of heaven. Jesus wants us to know that God alone is the only deeply satisfying source of recognition. He knows that if the praise and notice of the whole world were given to us, we would still say, “It is too little.”