Far too many people include concern for what others may think when considering their obedience to God. It is impossible to outsource your conscience to another.
What you do externally needs to be driven internally. You are not a slave to someone else’s script. You are not playing a role that has been given to you.
No matter your surroundings or circumstances, you can and must actively direct your life according to the dictates of your internal compass. No one else’s opinion of you will affect whether your conscience delivers to you unshakable peace of mind or inescapable guilt.
How you perform in relation to other people is also irrelevant. You are not in competition with anyone else. You are in competition with yourself. Will you do what you believe to be right, at all times and in all places?
Your reputation according to your religious leader, parent, spouse, or child does not indicate your standing with God. If anything, the approbation of others suggests you are contrary to God:
33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10)
Jesus frequently commended people considered unworthy by the public.1 He also promised that those who follow him will be hated by others to the degree that they are like he is.
Not only does it not matter what others think about the way you direct yourself in obedience to God, your choice to follow God at all times and in all places is guaranteed to put you at odds with all other people who know and obey him less than you:
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 10:22)
It doesn’t matter what other people think about you. Trusting in anyone else is placing the arm of the flesh before God. It is idolatry. It is leaning on a broken reed.2
Footnotes
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1.
And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. (Mark 12:41-44)
And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Mark 2:15-17)
And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. (Luke 7:37-47) ↩ - 2. See Isaiah 36:6 and Isaiah 42:3. ↩