Approval of man or of God

Jesus did not get the approval of men in His own city. He lived for an audience and approval of one - His Father, God. As my pastor was saying the other day, everyone goes through this lesson at some point of their lives. Recently I learned it hard out and I'm so thankful for that.

We don't have to guess where we stand with God once we accept His love and forgiveness. When we give our lives to God, He calls us: beloved child, chosen, adopted, destined with purpose. As a loving Father, He speaks to us daily and corrects us out of love.  He is perfect love.

So when we look to humans for their approval it is futile. Humans make mistakes. It is distorted if our first and primary source of affirmation is not from God.  He's the only one that knows us fully and Has our best interest in mind.

Friends and family can be a great secondary source of encouragement. When the body of Christ is on their game, it is a beautiful symphony of mutual encouragement and building one another up.  The difference is that encouragement is a bonus but it does not define or give worth.  It is simply a bonus. Like in Max Lucado's book: you are special, the character was given stars every time someone encouraged him and dots when people discouraged him. He was covered in stars and dots and his emotions were up and down. It wasn't until he met his maker (God) that all the stars and dots fell off.  God spoke into his life, gave him the very breath of life itself and that's all that mattered.

Being in any position of leadership will lend itself to many dots and stars.  Even though I thought I had learned this lesson many years ago, I still found myself "overly" encouraged by praises and overly discouraged by dots.  So God took me through a dot season.  I was hit with feeling unprotected and under encouraged. I realized that after a couple weeks of that, I really didn't care. I realized that I receive my value and worth from God.  When God speaks His encouragement over His children, it transforms us. He fills us with so much love that when people are critical, it only makes us want to love them more.  Or at least pray for them!

I'm so thankful to be learning this lesson. Women, your worth comes from God alone! He knows and has your heart first. Listen to His voice before any other.

Isaiah 52:2 (paraphrase)

Shake off your dusk,

Rise up, sit enthroned,
Free yourself from the chains on your neck