Approval (Blessing): Building up or affirming another person, particularly for who they are (as opposed to what they do); affirming both the fact and the importance of our relationship with another person.( Ephesians 4:29; Mark 1:11)
Do we honestly approve of one another or do we need to meet a certain standard or criteria in order to be approved? What actually IS “approved worthy” if we have to meet certain criteria? Financial status? We look a certain way? We fit a certain mold? We act, talk or behave in a manner worthy of approval? We agree with your way of thinking/believing? What standards do you hold for others?
Do you feel the same standards need to be met for the approval of God? Maybe you feel you need to act/look/behave a certain way or maybe your knowledge of scripture makes you approved. What does approval, in God’s eyes, look like for you personally?
I think we tend to want to prove our worthiness to God. Somehow if we study His Word enough, or pray harder or do good things, that God, only then, will approve us. Friends this a flat out lie of the enemy!
Roman 5:6-8 tells us: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Did you see that… “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”?
Same verse in the Message Translation: 6-8: “Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”
Same in the Passion Translation: “For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate his love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves.
Now, who of us would dare to die for the sake of a wicked person?
We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!”
God’s Word is clear….There is NOTHING you can do, other than put your trust in Christ Jesus, that can make God approve or love you more than He already does and did before your life even existed on earth! That my friends is wonderful freedom!
Every time you feel you need to earn approval from God or from others, may I make a suggestion? Get yourself a journal. On one side of the page write down your feelings/thoughts on how you feel the need to prove yourself. On the other side of the page search for the truth. Search scripture, seek God’s wisdom and then write that truth down. Next time that “lie” pops up in your heart/mind, remind yourself of the truth. This is how you renew your mind! (Romans 12:2) Sometimes we have to believe the TRUTH simply on faith until our heart/mind begins to accept and believe IT IS TRUTH!
Also, we are saved to do good works not by them! Motivated by love and gratitude, we do works for Jesus and others because we’ve been approved not in order to become worthy!