I've Got God's Approval...I Don't Need Yours!

Oftentimes we seek out and do whatever we think we need to do in order to meet the approval of others.  We worry about what they think, about how we look in their eyes.  We aim to make them happy, and we will do whatever we think it takes to make them happy, and to make them accept us.  We long for positive reinforcement from others...sometimes even at the expense of sacrificing our own true selves in order to obtain it.  When in reality, the only approval and acceptance we truly need to be seeking is God's. 

When we have a personal relationship with God, we have an identity in Him.  We come to know who we are in Christ.  We don't need others' acceptance or approval in order to be happy.  We shouldn't rely on others' happiness to make us happy.  We don't need any of that.  We only need to know that we are accepted and approved by God.  And if we have a personal relationship with Him that brings us to Him on a daily basis in order to maintain and strengthen that relationship, and we are living a life according to His will, we've already got His approval...we don't need it from anyone else.

That's right....not anyone.  Not our spouses or our friends or our family members.  Not our co-workers or our fellow church members or even our pastor.  Not our neighbors or our children or our parents.  There is no way we can ever make everyone happy anyway.  Someone is always going to disagree with us, judge us, disapprove of us, talk about us, reject us, criticize us, and not be willing to accept us, no matter what we do.  And you know what?  That's okay!  That's their problem, not ours!  As long as God accepts us, that's all we need.  And we'll find that when He does...when we receive God's approval...we'll begin to care less and less about what others think.  And soon all of those whose approval we sought for so long won't even matter anymore. 

"...for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." ~ I Samuel 16:7

"Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God.  If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant."  ~ Galations 1:10  (New Living Translation)