If you don’t want to just drift through your life and, instead, you want to break out of discouragement and despair and depression, then you’re going to have to learn to tune some people out. You’re going to have to disregard the people around you who say, “Who do you think you are? You’ll never be able to do that. Forget that dream. It’s never going to happen. You’re never going to be able to change.”

You have to pay no attention to the dream-busters in your life—and there will be plenty of them. When you start listening to them, you’re going to be filled with fear, anxiety, and doubt. It will keep you from launching out and going after the dream God has given you.

You cannot please God and everybody else at the same time! You’ve got to decide who you’re going to live for: the audience of your peers or the audience of one.

Bartimaeus knew that shouting out in a crowd to get Jesus’ attention was going to draw attention and other people’s disapproval. But he was desperate, and he knew it was his only chance to change his life.

Luke 18:39 says, “Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (NIV).

The crowd was telling Bartimaeus, “Who do you think you are? Jesus is an important person. He won’t be interested in someone like you.” 

We don’t just hear these kinds of rebukes from others. We say it to ourselves all the time! And, of course, the devil puts all kinds of lies into your mind, like, “You’re not worthy of God’s love,” “You could never be acceptable to God the way you are,” “You’ll never live up to God’s standards,” or “Your past disqualifies you from God’s purpose.”

So many people have no hope because they’re stuck in a rut worrying about what others will think of them if they go after their dream.

The Bible says that worrying about the approval of other people is a spiritual trap. Here’s how the Message paraphrase puts it: “The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in GOD protects you from that” (Proverbs 29:25 MSG).

Either you’re going to fear other people or you’re going to trust in God. You have a choice!