Mosaic (Feb 27)
- Amber Thiessen
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
When our kids join new teams and meet new friends, I always feel a sense of curiosity as I get to know the families around us. Especially on club teams, where competition naturally raises the intensity.
I’ve noticed something else, too. When the coach is watching, or when parents fill the stands, something in us rises to the occasion—we want to be seen doing well. But in settings when the spotlight fades, that same intensity doesn’t always follow. We often give our best where approval feels most visible.
This isn’t just a youth sports dynamic—it’s a human one. I see it in myself.
I think of the moments in the morning I’m sternly voicing concerns with one of my kids, but as the neighbours walk through the front door, a sing-song greeting suddenly emerges. Leaving my child a little confused, “Mom, weren’t you just upset?”
(Yeah, I guess I was. I just didn’t want anyone else to see it).
We all live with an awareness of who is watching. At work, it may be a boss or colleague. In ministry, it may be those we serve. And in many ways, that’s appropriate. We should speak differently in a boardroom than at our kitchen table. We should bring professionalism to our work and gentleness to our homes. That isn’t hypocrisy — it’s maturity.
But there are moments when something else is at work.
Sometimes our tone changes not out of wisdom, but out of fear. Sometimes our effort rises not out of diligence, but out of a longing for approval.
That’s where James’ words about being “double-minded” begin to press in.
James describes the double-minded person as someone unstable, pulled in two directions, divided in loyalty (James 1:5–8). It is a picture of inner inconsistency. A desire to follow God, yet still ruled by the approval of others.
If we are to follow the Lord Jesus wholeheartedly, we can’t live under two masters. We can’t live to please ourselves (or others) and please Christ at the same time. Our devotion will settle on one or the other. So when we notice this irregularity in our desires, it’s worth becoming curious. Why does my effort rise or fall depending on who is watching? Who am I aiming to please first and foremost?
We need wisdom to see those places we’re divided and grace to grow in integrity—so that God’s love flows through us not just in public, but in our weaknesses and insecurities too.
Because Jesus was never divided.
He wasn’t one way in private and another in public.
He wasn’t driven by the approval of the crowds.
He was confident His identity as the Son of God, and at the transfiguration, God reveals what has always been true.
Up on the mountain (Mark 9:2-13), Jesus takes with him Peter, James and John, then the Lord Jesus is mysteriously and majestically transformed before their eyes, shining radiantly in unveiled glory. A cloud hovers over them and the voice of God speaks. Moses and Elijah also make an appearance representing the Law and the Prophets, bearing witness that all of Scripture finds its fulfillment in Him.
God’s declares “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mark 9:7).
The truth of the Lord Jesus, his identity as fully God and fully man is pressed into this moment. The disciples were to no longer regard him simply as a teacher. They were to start listening to him as the beloved Son, the final and greater revelation of God.
And this glory did not bypass suffering. The Son, revealed in radiance, would walk down the mountain toward the cross. He would persevere through rejection, bear our sin, die in our place, and rise again in victory. His obedience was not divided. His devotion was whole — all the way to death.
Our wholehearted devotion does not begin with trying harder to be consistent. It begins with resting in Him. It begins with receiving the finished work of the Son of God — who lived faithfully where we are divided, who died for our double-mindedness, and who rose to secure our belonging.
In Christ, we are no longer striving for approval. We are already beloved.
And from that place of security, the Spirit begins to reshape us. Teaching us to live with integrity, not to earn God’s favor but because we already have it.
The truth of the gospel gives us purpose today, to love the Lord by making His name great and loving those around us as he loved us. Not from a place of striving to gain approval but of contentment in who we are in Him.
In Writing
📚 On My Shelf
Gleaning from this commentary on 1 & 2 Kings for our ladies bible study on Elijah
I was blessed to finish CS Lewis’ The Four Loves and Married For God by Christopher Ash and find myself continuing to reflect on friendship and marriage, the similarities and the differences.
I’m in the first third of my friend Cara’s book The Pursuit of Holy Leisure and it’s helped me reflect on love for and joy in the Lord.
In fiction I finished The Speed of Lightning in Ashley Worrell’s historical fiction series set in the Scottish Isles, highlighting the tension between loyalty to clan and to faith in Christ.
In Articles
There's a lot of ways we become outcasts, and in facing rejection our lives become challenging and lonely. But, we are not alone, and we do not suffer in isolation. The Lord Jesus came and experienced exactly what that's like. We're also encouraged to remember a compassionate, caring God who provides for us even in what feels like desolation.
A helpful look at where heaven is and what that means in our everyday. "The gospel invites us to stop trying to bring heaven down and begin living from where we are already seated. Heaven is not far off. Eternal life is not postponed. God dwells within His people—now."
"We care for the sick, draw near to the brokenhearted, and tend to the downcast because it’s what Jesus did. He was, and is, a compassionate Savior. And we must follow Him in His compassion. Truthfully, being compassionate as followers of Jesus should be easy when we remember God was compassionate to us even while we were His enemies (Rom. 5:10). This is why we can look around us, see the stain of sin everywhere, and still show compassion—because God had compassion on us in our sin."
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