Whose Approval Are You Seeking?

Approval: favorable opinion or acceptance.

So often we seek the approval of others instead of focusing on getting the approval that really counts. We seek to get the approval of others in the way that we dress, the cars we drive, and the way we think. We even try to gain a favorable opinion from others by the decisions we make. My friends, this should not be the case! Especially if it means that we neglect to get the approval of God, our Father. If we're not careful, we will find ourselves using all of our energy trying to please others and trying to be accepted by them and in the process of all this, we'll end up being totally miserable, because we wind-up outside of the will of God. First, let's seek God for His approval, before we worry about anyone else's. After all, His opinion is the only one that really counts.

In 1 Samuel 15:3 God told Saul, "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."  Just a few verses later, we find that "...Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them." Instead of being obedient after receiving the word of God and seeking His approval, Saul listened to the people and allowed them to do what they wanted to do in order to be accepted by them. As a result of his actions, Saul was rejected from being King. Now, if you were in that situation, knowing what you know, whose approval would you be seeking?

Life would be awfully miserable if we spend it trying to please everybody else, so lets not lose focus by trying to get the praise of man more than we seek for the praise/approval of God. If we allowed it, people will tell us how to live our lives, how to raise our children, and will even tell the pastors how to run the Church. We must remember to seek God's opinion in all things and be the people that He has called us to be in order to fulfill our destiny. While we may disappoint man, we should seek the approval of God and make every effort not to disappoint Him.

With all that said, let the Church say Amen… and AMEN!