Approval of another Sort.

3-5God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you we're not after crowd approval—only God approval. Since we've been put through that battery of tests, you're guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas. We never used words to butter you up. No one knows that better than you. And God knows we never used words as a smoke screen to take advantage of you.

6-8Even though we had some standing as Christ's apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren't aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.
1 Thessalonians 2:3-8

I want to clarify what I am talking about before I go farther. When I say "approval" I am referring to the need by humans to have other humans approve what you are doing. With that out of the way, let me take you on a journey for the last few years.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many times, I found myself in a place I was not happy with. After my church shut down 5 years ago, I found myself without the close companionship of friends and family. I had battled, primarily in secret, with an addiction to pornography, I had grown up literally cutting my teeth on the chairs at that church. I knew I was accepted. I was the bass player, I was the servant, but there was a longing deeper than all of that. The longing for approval.

Approval is something that many of us seek, long for, and in some cases never ever get. It is linked to self-confidence issues, insecurity and the like. I know many first hand how hard it is gain approval, then once gained, how to keep it. But back to my story.

What I didn't share with my immediate family, my church family, or my pastor (who was also family), was that God had placed a call to be a pastor of many on my life quite a few years earlier (6 years prior to this time-frame). However, at the time, I was dealing with Porn head on and didn't really fully believe what God was telling me. I pushed the call away until many years later, when I would pick it back up.

When I went to a conference as a chaparone, I heard the pastor (Judah Smith) make an alter call to all pastors and leaders who knew they were called to pastor. I went down with our youth pastor and another friend. As I went down, my footfalls echoed in my own head. My heart was beating fast and heavy. The presence of God was as real and tangible as a warm blanket. It was enveloping me and working on my heart. As I got down to the alter and he began praying, God distinctly reminded me of the call he placed. That was 2008, Later that summer I would embrace the call and begin pastoring a small group.

My trouble hit me when I was pastoring the group and it stayed small. Frustrated, I went to our leadership and asked them to give me guidance, "I can't tell you what to do." That was the only answer I ever got. I was seeking approval from them for the fact that it was small, I was seeking approval for the level at which I was engaged, I was seeking approval.....

From the wrong source.

One time, two years later, after I was burned out, angry, annoyed, wanting to move on in life, questioning my call itself, God gently reminded me, through my wife, of this basic principle in 1 Thessalonians. " Be assured that when we speak to you we're not after crowd approval—only God approval. " God approval is the only thing that we should be seeking.

After leaving that church in a whirlwind, I noted that I was angry at myself. For starters, God had been telling me to move on, but my desire for approval kept me from understanding that I didn't need it from them. God had better things in mind.
My question to you today:
What are you waiting for approval on that is holding you back?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Analyst's view of Luke pt. 3

Luke 1:21-38 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. 22 But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. 23 So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. 24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.” Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary 26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”[a] 29 But when she saw him,[b] she was troubled at his sayi
Read more

My daddy

In this world where so many are fatherless, many are frustrated and angry at their fathers, I want to take a few moments to talk about my dad. My dad was a fighter! When I say fighter I don't mean that he fought for money, or was in the Army. What I mean is that my dad fought many problems. He fought long days to provide for our family, he fought the attitudes my siblings and myself had towards him. He fought rejection, he fought loss, he fought being without a job, he fought the end of our church, he fought so much. It would be easy to look back at one of those areas and say, "Dad you didn't do enough!" It would be easy to look back at the long days he spent trying to provide for us away from us; a task that I cannot fathom at the present. Why do I bring this up? Why did I talk about him? The biggest reason is that today he embarks on perhaps the biggest journey of his life. He leaves for a 6 month job. A job that will take him THOUSANDS of miles away from his wife,
Read more

Lead like Jesus

but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great  millstone  fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. - Matthew 18:4 but Jesus said,   “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  - Matthew 19:14 These two verses make it abundantly clear to me that Jesus' mind is focused squarely on the children. In fact, Jesus makes it clear to us that if we mess with Children's access to God, we have some serious consequences awaiting us.   We see these verses and my mind immediately jumps to what we see in the present day. Lawmakers, teachers, activists, and people who are NOT you are trying to dramatically change your children. I get the understanding that interrupting children's access to Jesus is a big deal.  Jesus mentions that we shouldn't infringe, impact, or worst of all, cause a little one to sin. But what we see is quite the o
Read more