John 5:14

“Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”

Here Jesus presumes the common Jewish view that illness was a punishment for sin. But later, when His disciples ask Him why a certain man had been born blind, He denies that it had anything to do with the sin of either that man or his parents (John 9:3). Instead, it was to manifest God’s glory. Thus, sometimes healings undo a punishment for sin; other times there is no relation between health and obedience, or between sin and sickness, beyond the general observation that all evil came into the world through original sin.

-from Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels

John 5:41,44

“I do not accept glory from men…How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that comes from God alone?”

Perform for an audience of One.

The divine nod of approval is completely sufficient.

Proverbs 14:6

A mocker seeks wisdom and does not find it, but knowledge comes easily to the perceptive.

A mocker’s pride keeps him from finding wisdom, but an open person, humbly searching, will find what YHWH has made readily available to all.

We’ve all known people (sometimes ourselves) who are always struggling with others, with money, with drama…and many times it can probably be traced to this here. We search the world for its wisdom before going surrendered to God.