It Starts Small

DO you crave approval? At some point we all crave the approval of others. We scroll through instagram comparing our unfiltered lives through someone’s filtered feed or building a huge snapchat streak with friends. We fill our facebook posts with whatever we can so someone will hit that “like” button. We are looking for someone accept us and that is where the appetite for approval creeps in.

Approval asks:

Am I good enough?
Do I have what it takes?
WIll anyone like me if they know the real me?

The problem is we seek the answers to these questions from the wrong places and people.

We use the number of likes we get like they are stats to how many people like us in real life. We are using how many followers we have as a popularity rating. We look at comments, good or bad, as a rating on the movie of our life. We are desperate for family and friends to give us approval. We think if I get better grades, a better job, make more money, find more friends, or ar better at life than others, we will get approval.

Here is what we need to let sink into our hearts this morning: As a CHRIST follower, you do not have to look to others for approval because you have God’s approval!

There is absolutely nothing we can do to make God love us more or less. So instead of living for the approval of people, we can live from the approval of God!

The act of fitting in is the opposite of approval. When we try to “fit” into the lives of others or groups of people, we have to almost always compromise who we are. Who we are is the creation of the image of God. He created us! When we have to change something about ourselves to get the approval of others we are telling God you did not create me right and I have to be “this” in order for people to like me. I have to be “that” in order to get followers and feel important to others. We are telling God you did a poor job creating us, so I am going to create a better version of me. Often times, when we have to compromise who we were created to be, we find ourselves in the loneliest and most miserable place.

The following scriptures remind us of God’s approval of us. Take a moment to reflect on your heart. Are you seeking others’ approval or do you live in the approval of God?

¹⁰ For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10

¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. ² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2

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Part 1: Craving Approval
Part 2: Looking for Approval
Part 3: People Pleasing
Part 4: Approval in Christ