Nothing To Prove - Joel Osteen

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Thanks so much for tuning in, and thanks again for coming out today. I’d like to start with something funny. I heard about this middle-aged woman who had a heart attack on the operating table. She asked God if this was it. God said, "No, you have 40 more years." Upon recovery, she decided to stay in the hospital to have a facelift, tummy tuck, liposuction, and an extreme makeover. Two months later, as she was leaving the hospital, she was hit by a car and killed. She got to Heaven and said, "God, I don’t understand it. I thought you said I had 40 more years?" God said, "I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you."

No spiritual value, but let’s say it—ready?

This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess: My mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus' name, God bless you.

I want to talk to you today about having nothing to prove.

Too often, we’re trying to get our worth out of what we do, how well we perform. Am I a good enough mother? Am I talented enough, strong enough, successful enough? We think if we work harder, outperform our coworker, outdress our friend, or outdrive our neighbor, then we’ll feel good about ourselves. We live in this "proving mode," with this need to impress.

The problem is, we’re getting our value from the wrong place. If you don’t know who you are—a child of the Most High God—then you’ll spend your energy trying to get other people to validate you. But when you’re secure in who God made you to be, when you’re comfortable with your gifts, content with your looks, and happy with your personality, then you don’t go around competing with others. You won’t be jealous of a friend that’s more talented or live to impress a cousin that’s more attractive. You’ll know that you’re one of a kind—a masterpiece made in the image of God.

When you know who you are, you won’t live in this "proving mode," trying to impress people or getting your value out of what they think: Do they accept me? Do they compliment me? Do they approve of me? If not, you might think, Let me work harder. Let me prove to them that I’m good enough. No—you don’t need their applause.

Their validation isn’t going to move you toward your destiny. Their cheering you on is nice, but if you’re getting your worth from that, what happens if they stop? Then you’ll feel devalued, not good enough, and you’ll have to work harder, do more, and try to impress them again. It’s a treadmill—you’re doing all this work, but you’re not going anywhere.

Take the pressure off. You have nothing to prove. Your destiny is not contingent on them liking you. Their approval isn’t keeping you from your purpose. It’s a distraction. You’re spending time and energy trying to impress and outperform, to show them that you’re good enough, when in fact, you’re already good enough. You’ve already been approved. God created you in His own image.

Run your race. They may be more talented—celebrate them! You’re not competing with them. You don’t have to prove to them that you’re talented too. You have gifts that they don’t have. Be confident in who God made you to be.

I talked to a man who, growing up, had a father who was very hard on him—very condescending. His father told him that he was never going to amount to anything. Now this man is in his 40s, working night and day, trying to prove to his father that he was wrong. He wants to prove that he’s talented and successful. But his father still doesn’t acknowledge his success or compliment him.

I told him what I’m telling you: You don’t have to convince him that you’re good enough. He doesn’t control your destiny. That’s a distraction. You’re trying to impress someone who’s never going to be impressed. No matter what you do, it’s not going to be good enough.

Your job is not to change people’s minds. Your job is to run your race. Don’t get your value from people—get your value from God.

Anytime we’re trying to prove something, the root cause is insecurity. Your value should come from who you are, not what you do or what you have. Otherwise, there will always be a voice saying, You don’t measure up. You need to be stronger, skinnier, taller, wealthier, more talented, a better mother.

It’s very freeing when you understand that you have nothing to prove. You don’t have to prove to others that you’re good enough.

That neighbor who’s a super mom? She does everything for her children—after school, they do arts and crafts, then Little League, then ballet, then singing lessons, then pilot lessons, then algebra three. On weekends, they do field trips. She makes all their clothes, and on Fridays, they learn Chinese. You don’t have to keep up with her to prove that you’re a good mother too. She may have grace for that. She’s walking in her anointing, her calling, her gifting. Feel sorry for her kids—but you’re not competing with her.

If you go into "proving mode," trying to outperform or feeling less than because you’re not like her, all that’s going to do is wear you out and steal your joy. You’re trying to prove something you don’t have to prove. You’ve entered a race you’re not competing in. Walk in your anointing.

You don’t have to keep up with other people. If you’re getting your value by how you measure up to your peers—Am I as talented as my coworker? Am I as successful as my cousin?—then you’ll live in "proving mode," working harder, trying to impress. That’s a never-ending cycle. Get off that treadmill.

You have nothing to prove. You don’t have to be better than your neighbor, more talented than your friend, or skinnier than your cousin. That’s not your race. You’re not competing with them—you’re competing with yourself. Be the best you that you can be.

I’ve seen ladies who are naturally a size 14 compare themselves to someone who’s naturally a size 6. It’s not necessarily about discipline, diet, or willpower. It’s about genetics—it’s about who God made you to be. If you’re competing in a race you’re not supposed to be in, you’re going to live frustrated. You could not eat for three years and still not be a size 6. Why are you competing in a race that was never designed for you?

What are you trying to prove? That if you get small enough, strong enough, successful enough, then you’ll feel good about yourself? Get out of that race. You can feel good about who you are right now.

You are in a class all by yourself. When God made you, He threw away the mold. He stepped back and said, "That was good—another masterpiece." He put His DNA in you.

Who said you don’t look good? Who said you’re not talented enough? Who said you needed to be taller, more creative, or have a better personality? Don’t believe those lies. Quit comparing, quit competing, and run your race.

When our children were small, most of my siblings homeschooled their children. I asked my sister Lisa about it. She said, "When you send them off to school, that’s eight hours a day that they’re being influenced by someone else." I thought, That’s eight hours that I get a break!

But we felt this pressure to be like them. Sometimes, we do things with the wrong motives: I’m going to homeschool my children so you won’t look down on me. I’m going to try to prove that I’m a good parent too.

You have to follow your own heart. When you compare with others, you’ll start competing. The problem is, you’re not running their race. The grace on their life is going to be different than the grace on your life. It’s not a one-size-fits-all.

If you think you have to do what they’re doing or else you’ll look less than—if you feel like you have to prove that you’re just as strong, just as committed, just as talented—then you’re going to get distracted from your destiny.

We put our children in school for the first four or five years, and they did great. Eventually, when we started traveling a lot, we did homeschool them. The point is, run your race.

You have nothing to prove. You don’t have to prove to God that you’re worthy—He already made you worthy. You don’t have to prove that you deserve His goodness. He knew every mistake you would make, every fault, every weakness, and He’s already accepted and approved you.

Quit trying to win over His approval, thinking, If I read my Bible enough, pray enough, quote enough Scripture, serve enough, give enough… Rest in who He made you to be. You’re not supposed to live striving, pressured, hoping you can measure up or do good enough to earn His blessings.

You don’t have to earn it. When He breathed life into you, He put His blessing on you. You’re already qualified. Take the pressure off and walk in that blessing.

We weren’t created to live in this "proving mode," trying to impress others, outperform coworkers, and not feeling good about yourself unless you’re achieving, impressing, and outperforming.

Take the pressure off. You have nothing to prove.  

People will keep you from your destiny—that's time and energy you need for your dreams and your goals. You may impress people, you may win their approval. They compliment you: "Man, you look great today! You sure are successful." Praise from people just feeds our ego. But we should live to impress God. He controls the universe. Promotion is not going to come from that person you impress. Proving to your friend that you're talented and successful may make you feel good, but they don’t open doors, they don’t part Red Seas, and they don’t line up favor or divine connections.

Instead of impressing people, we should spend our time impressing God. When you’re secure in who God made you to be, you don’t feel less than because you can’t do what somebody else does. God has given us different gifts.

I don’t feel inferior because my brother is a medical doctor and I don’t have a college degree. I realize he got the brains, but I got the looks! But my security is not in how I perform, in what I do, what I wear, or what title is behind my name. My security is in the fact that I’m a child of Almighty God. And I say this with humility, but I realize I’m a masterpiece. I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. I’m equipped, empowered, approved, and anointed.

You have to get your value from who you are, not what you do. Otherwise, you’ll spend your whole life competing with others, trying to prove your importance, trying to convince them to be for you: Look at the car I drive. Look at the business I built. Look at my position. Look at what great shape I’m in. That’s all good, but it’s superficial. If it changes, then your self-worth will change.

I was riding to a friend’s house from the gym years ago. He invited us to come over after we played basketball. I jumped in the car with him—he had this very nice sports car, really beautiful. As we were driving to his house, I noticed we went the long way. We could have saved a few miles, but he went all the way around. I asked why he didn’t go the easy way. He said, "My ex-girlfriend lives on this street, and I always drive by to make sure she sees what she’s missed out on."

They had been broken up for almost 10 years, but still, every chance he got, he was going out of his way to prove what she was missing out on—to prove that he was successful, to prove that he was happy without her. What’s funny is he found out later that she had moved across town a couple of years earlier. All that time, he was driving by to prove his point, and she wasn’t even there.

I wonder how many times we’re trying to prove something, and the person isn’t even paying attention—trying to impress people that don’t care, competing with someone who doesn’t even know we’re competing.

Yes, it’s good to have goals. It’s good to have people that challenge us and inspire us to go further. But we’re not going to be blessed if our motives aren’t pure. When we’re trying to prove to people to feed our ego, to pay them back, to show them how great we are, or to make up for our lack of self-worth—that’s a dead-end street. Let God fight your battles. Let Him promote you. Let Him vindicate you.

His favor is not so we can prove that we’re talented, prove that we’re as good as someone else. It’s to fulfill our assignment—it’s to advance the Kingdom.

Who are you trying to impress? Who are you competing with? How much energy are you spending trying to feel good enough, talented enough, smart enough, worthy enough?

Try a different approach. Come out from under that pressure, striving, working. You have nothing to prove. What people think about you doesn’t determine your destiny. Accomplishing more is nice, but it’s not going to make you more valuable. Your income may increase, but your value is not going to increase. Don’t get baited into being competitive, trying to outperform, thinking that’s going to give you more worth. Run your race. Stay focused on what you’re called to do.

Don’t live for people’s applause—live for God’s applause.

In Luke chapter 3, Jesus was being baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. When He came up out of the water, a voice boomed out of Heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." A dove came down and landed on Jesus, representing the Holy Spirit.

What’s interesting is, Jesus had not yet started His ministry. He had never healed anyone, never opened a blind eye, never turned water into wine. Yet His Father said, "I am well pleased with You."

God was pleased with who He was, not with what He could do. His value didn’t come from His performance.

I could understand God saying He was pleased with Him after He raised Lazarus, after He multiplied the five loaves, after He cured the lepers. But God doesn’t base your value on what you do—on how well you perform, on how talented you are, or on how many people look up to you. It’s based on the fact that you’re His child. He breathed life into you. He made you in His own image.

There’s nothing you can do that will make you more valuable. No matter how good you perform, no matter how successful you are, it doesn’t change how God sees you right now.

We think, Man, if I could perform better, if I could be more disciplined, if I could become more successful, then God would smile down on me. Then He would show me His favor. But He’s already smiling on you. He’s already crowned you with His favor.

Sure, you may have areas you need to improve in—we all do—but that doesn’t change your value. When God looks at you, He says, "That’s Charles, that’s my son, in whom I’m well pleased. That’s Nancy, that’s Maria, that’s Rhonda—those are my daughters, in whom I am well pleased."

When you understand that God is pleased with you, it doesn’t really matter what other people think about you. They may not be for you. They may try to discredit you or withhold their approval. Big deal—they didn’t breathe life into you. They didn’t know you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. They didn’t call you, equip you, or anoint you.

Why are you trying to prove to people who you are, when God has already said He is well pleased with you? Why are you spending time and energy trying to impress that neighbor, prove to that person who walked away that you really are okay, or prove to that coworker that you are talented?

You don’t have anything to prove. They don’t control your destiny. They can’t stop what God has purposed for your life.

Get your eyes off of people, off of your faults, off of how you think you don’t measure up. You are approved, you are accepted, you are anointed. Now step into your destiny.

After Jesus was baptized—after this great moment where God announced that He was pleased with Him, and the Spirit came down like a dove—the scripture says the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted.

On one side of the Jordan River, it was lush, green, full of fruits and vegetables—so fertile and beautiful. On the other side, it was barren, dry, nothing growing, hot, dusty. You would think that after this incredible moment, surely the Spirit would take Jesus into the nice, comfortable land so He could start His ministry with ease.

But it was just the opposite—He was led into the desert to be tempted.

You can be in the desert by design. Sometimes God will lead you into the wilderness. The good news is, God will not take you into something that He’s not going to bring you out of. Stay faithful in the wilderness. Pass the test. Keep doing the right thing.

One of the tests Jesus had to pass in the desert was not proving Himself. 

After 40 days, the enemy came to Jesus and said, "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread." He was saying, "Jesus, prove to us who you are. Prove that you’re really the Son of God. Prove that the voice we all heard was really true."

Jesus wouldn’t do it. He said, "Man doesn’t live by bread alone." He was saying, "I don’t have anything to prove. I don’t need you to be for me. I don’t need your validation. I’m not going to waste my time trying to convince you who I am."

The enemy took Jesus to a high place overlooking the temple and said it again: "If you are the Son of God, jump off this ledge."

Jesus said in effect, "Why do I need to show you who I am when just 40 days ago you heard my Father announcing who I am? If I was His child in the water, then I’m His child in the desert. I don’t need to impress you. I’m not going to show off, hoping you’ll be convinced of who I am. I have a destiny to fulfill."

Like Jesus, you have nothing to prove. Don’t get distracted by the negative chatter, by people who discount you. Don’t start competing with someone who’s not in your race, trying to outperform or impress them so they’ll be for you. You don’t need them to be for you.

The enemy wanted Jesus to show off: "Jump so everyone will see how powerful you are, so you can impress all these people."

But Jesus wouldn’t use His power for the wrong motives—just to bring attention to Himself, just to show how great He was. Before He was crucified, He said, "I could have called 10,000 angels down to turn things around, but I’m not living to impress people. I’m not living to prove who I am. I know who I am. I’m living to fulfill my purpose."

When your motives are right, and you need favor, you need a breakthrough, God will step in and make things happen that you couldn’t make happen. But if anyone could have proved something, it was Jesus. He has all power. He could have shut the enemy up. He could have created a steak dinner in the desert. He could have flown down off that ledge like a fighter pilot, leaving everyone in amazement.

But He was showing us: you don’t need people’s validation. You may have the power to prove something. You have the talent, the funds. You could get even. You could show off. You could impress. But you realize—it’s a distraction.

Like with Jesus, we’re all going to face these tests. Are you going to get baited in, start competing in things that don’t matter, trying to prove your self-worth, trying to impress people so they’ll think well of you, trying to prove your value when your Heavenly Father has already taken care of that? He’s already said He’s well pleased with you.

If we would spend the same amount of time that we normally use trying to prove, trying to impress, trying to feel better about ourselves—if we spent that time pursuing our goals, working on our assignment, and focusing on our purpose—how much further along would we be? How much more of God’s favor would we see?

It takes pressure to live in a "proving mode." If you fall into that trap, the enemy won’t leave you alone. You’ll prove one thing, and he’ll come again. "If you won’t turn these stones into bread, then at least jump off the temple. At least prove that you’re mighty."

Three times, the enemy tried to get Jesus to prove who He was. He kept coming back again and again. You have to be determined: "I am not going to give in to this temptation to prove, to compete, to outperform, to show people that I’m strong enough, smart enough, or talented enough. I have nothing to prove."

Years ago, my father wanted to build a new sanctuary. We were in an auditorium that held a thousand people. The church was growing, and we needed a larger place to meet. For several years, he had been making plans and saving the funds, but he just couldn’t get it going.

Four or five of his pastor friends—men much younger than him—were building these large sanctuaries. When my father would hear about it, he’d get all fired up and try to make it happen. In the back of his mind, he thought, "I can’t let them outdo me. I’m getting older—it looks like I’m falling behind." There was this underlying pressure to try to compete, to keep up, to prove that he was successful, to prove that he wasn’t too old.

He was tempted to give in to it, but he recognized that wasn’t his race. He wasn’t competing with them. He didn’t have to keep up. He passed the test. Several years later, everything fell into place, and he built a beautiful new debt-free sanctuary.

It’s important to keep the right motives. Why do you want to accomplish the dream? Why do you want the bigger house? Why do you want the promotion? If your motives are pure—to fulfill your destiny, to help more people, to accomplish your assignment—then God will bless it. But if it’s to keep up with your neighbors, not look bad in front of your family, or impress the people under you, it’s going to be a struggle.

God’s favor is not to build our ego—it’s to build the Kingdom.

When David went out to face Goliath, his brothers made fun of him. His father didn’t think he had what it takes. King Saul thought he was too small. David had all these people that didn’t believe in him. But he didn’t go out to prove to them who he was, to prove that he wasn’t too small, to prove that he was anointed. It wasn’t about proving—it was about fulfilling his purpose.

He saw Goliath as someone standing in the way of the Israelites, a giant defying the armies of the living God. If David had gone out just to prove to people, to show them who he was, to feed his ego, he wouldn’t have seen God’s favor. His motives were to advance the Kingdom. He wasn’t doing it for people’s applause, for fame, or for notoriety.

When you have the right motives, God will take your slingshot and cause you to defeat a giant. He’ll open doors you couldn’t open. He’ll cause you to look good, to be honored, to be admired. You weren’t seeking that—trying to impress, trying to outperform—you were seeking the Kingdom.

My question today: how much pressure are you putting on yourself? Trying to prove? Trying to measure up? Trying to get validation?

This can be a new day. You can go out of here much lighter. You have nothing to prove. You don’t have to keep up with everyone. You’re not in competition with others. You don’t have to perform better for God to approve you. He’s already said, "You’re my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased."

It wasn’t based on what you did or didn’t do—it’s based on who you are: His child. You’re not supposed to live striving, stressed, or competing. Get off that treadmill. Rest in who God made you to be. Run your race, focus on your goals, and keep the right motives.

If you’ll do this, I believe and declare: you’re going to live freer. You’re going to see God’s favor in greater ways—accomplishing dreams, overcoming obstacles, becoming all you were created to be. In Jesus' name.

And if you receive it, can you say, "Amen?"

Today, I’d like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say:

"Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make You my Lord and Savior."

If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again.