The Trap of Approval
Read The Daily:
Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. Galatians 1:10
One negative comment can outweigh ten encouraging ones.
It’s crazy how that works.
You can receive love all week long, encouragement all week long, reminders that you matter… and then one person ignores you, criticizes you, or disappoints you, and suddenly that’s the voice replaying in your head.
Approval is addictive because it never stays full for long.
That’s why the enemy tempted Jesus with applause. “Jump off the temple. Make everybody notice you.” But Jesus refused to build His identity on the reactions of people because He already had the approval of the Father.
And honestly? That’s exhausting freedom.
Because when your identity is tied to applause, silence feels terrifying. But when your identity is rooted in God’s love, you stop needing every room to validate you.
The crowd is a terrible place to discover your worth.
God settled that already.
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Prayer for the Day
God what are you showing me? What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.
Read The New Testament In A Year
I gave them your word; The godless world hated them because of it, Because they didn’t join the world’s ways, Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world But that you guard them from the Evil One. They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world. Make them holy–consecrated–with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I’m consecrating myself for their sakes So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission. I’m praying not only for them But also for those who will believe in me Because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind– Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them, So they’ll be as unified and together as we are– I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, And give the godless world evidence That you’ve sent me and loved them In the same way you’ve loved me. Father, I want those you gave me To be with me, right where I am, So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, Having loved me Long before there ever was a world. Righteous Father, the world has never known you, But I have known you, and these disciples know That you sent me on this mission. I have made your very being known to them– Who you are and what you do– And continue to make it known, So that your love for me Might be in them Exactly as I am in them. John 17:14-26
Now, getting down to the questions you asked in your letter to me. First, Is it a good thing to have sexual relations? Certainly–but only within a certain context. It’s good for a man to have a wife, and for a woman to have a husband. Sexual drives are strong, but marriage is strong enough to contain them and provide for a balanced and fulfilling sexual life in a world of sexual disorder. The marriage bed must be a place of mutuality–the husband seeking to satisfy his wife, the wife seeking to satisfy her husband. Marriage is not a place to “stand up for your rights.” Marriage is a decision to serve the other, whether in bed or out. Abstaining from sex is permissible for a period of time if you both agree to it, and if it’s for the purposes of prayer and fasting–but only for such times. Then come back together again. Satan has an ingenious way of tempting us when we least expect it. I’m not, understand, commanding these periods of abstinence–only providing my best counsel if you should choose them. Sometimes I wish everyone were single like me–a simpler life in many ways! But celibacy is not for everyone any more than marriage is. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others. I do, though, tell the unmarried and widows that singleness might well be the best thing for them, as it has been for me. 1 Corinthians 7:1-8