The Praise of the World

O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world? (Mormon 8:38, emphasis added)

The praise of the world distorts everything, doesn't it? At least for me it often does. The praise of the world makes misery look better than happiness, as Moroni mentioned. There have been a lot of times in my life where I have a pretty good idea about what the right answer is, what I should do, but I hesitate or don't do it because I fear what other people think. I fear the praise of the world being withdrawn. I should be more concerned about the Spirit being withdrawn. Everything becomes confusing when I worry about what others will think, rather than what God knows. He has my best interests at heart, as well as the best interests of all those around me, and He will work things out perfectly if I will just trust and follow Him! I will make a renewed effort to not care whether the world is praising me or not. If God is happy with me, I don't care who else is.