If you’re anything like me, sometimes you put your worth into what you do rather than who you are. You get caught up in accomplishments, in accolades, in to-do lists, and schedules. You feel the need to impress, to be the best, to achieve.

I get it. I fall into this trap. I get caught up in thinking so inwardly that all I focus on is achieving and receiving rather than being and giving. I get caught up in a “do more, get more” mentality rather than a “love more, give more” one. But here’s something we all need to embrace and understand:

It’s not about what we do… it’s about who we are.

It’s hard to understand this, though. The world makes us feel like we’re not good enough. It’s easy to compare and fuss about what we don’t have because it’s so easy to see what others do have.

When we begin to feel this emptiness, we try to fill ourselves up… and a lot of us fall into the trap of thinking this fulfillment comes from tangible things: awards, recognition, trophies, money, looks, achievements. But from experience, I can tell you this: God doesn’t give a darn about those things.

In fact, He could care less about the things that go on your resume… the things you try so hard to impress people with. God doesn’t care about those things because He doesn’t look at those things. Do you know what He looks at instead?

Your heart.

That’s right. Not your lack of thigh gap, not your imperfect GPA, not your flat chest or frizzy hair or failures. He looks at your heart.

So I want you to quit focusing on all the things you want to gain and start thinking about all that you can give. I want you to quit focusing on trying to be loved, and instead start loving on others. I want you to stop trying to serve yourself and focus on all you want to achieve, and instead start serving the people around you and helping them be the best they can be. I want you to focus on being rather than achieving.

Love.

That’s the thing that matters to God. He looks at how you love. That’s what He treasures. We are told this in 1 Corinthian 13:1-13: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

You can be the most successful person on the planet. You can be the richest, most beautiful, and smartest person to live… but if you don’t have love, what’s the point?

Because get this - God doesn’t use the strongest, richest, most beautiful people. He uses the broken ones, the unlikely. He looks at the heart.

Focus on the interior rather than the exterior. And… “Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:14)

Serve.

I think sometimes we get so caught up in gaining things that we forget about giving. We become entangled and bombarded with expectations and pressure. We stress ourselves out by believing we need to do more, gain more, receive more. But I find that I am most fulfilled and happy when I choose to give instead, when I quit focusing on lifting myself up and instead lift up those around me.

We all have been given unique gifts to use… These gifts are not for us to keep to ourselves. We have been given them to serve others. For even Jesus himself came not to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28).

Ask yourself this question: What would happen if we would all just give a little bit more than we take?

Humble Yourself.

Remember that you have nothing to prove and only One to impress. You don’t need to put your energy into getting others to praise you and lift you up. All you need to do is praise the One who made you.

God tells us over and over again the importance of humility. We are told in 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves, then, under God’s mighty hand, so that He will lift you up in His own good time.”

He also tells us to focus on the interest of others rather than ourselves. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others,” (Philippians 2:3-4).

So focus on your heart, and watch as God fills it with His goodness and peace. Feel the joy and see the light you radiate…

And just take a minute to imagine how much better the world would be if our hearts would only be fuller than our resumes.