Whose Approval Should We Seek?
Dearly beloved, I thank God for your fellowship in the gospel, and I am confident that He that began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus, the day that he will return and gather the members of his body together in the air to be with him.
Until then, dearly beloved, I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all spiritual awareness so that you are able to examine everything in light of God’s Word and know what is the best, so that you might be genuine and without offence until the day of Christ, being filled with the fruit of righteousness that is by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.
Whose approval do we seek, beloved? Do we seek to stand approved before the man in the mirror, others, or God? Nothing in the flesh, whether ours, or anyone else’s flesh gains us approval before God. We stand approved before God in Christ and by his work.
The kingdom of God is not in meat or drink; it is in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy spirit. We should live to do the will of him that gave himself for us and saved us.
We should not judge one another and do things that cause a brother to stumble. We do not want to be obstacles but examples of right believing. We should not be stumbling stones, but burden bearers. Beloved, pursue the things that make peace, and the things that edify one another. He that serves Christ in these things is well pleasing to God and approved of men.
We do not live or die to ourselves; we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; we are the Lord’s. He died and lived again so that he could be Lord over both the dead and the living, and we will each stand before the judgment seat of Christ and shall give account of ourselves.
This is the approval we should desire, not people’s. We are approved in Christ, by his work, and we should live as he would have us live until he comes. We don’t measure ourselves by ourselves, but by Christ. We should do those things that are pleasing in the Father’s sight.
Dearly beloved, our heart’s desire should be to stand approved before God. Therefore, make a diligent effort to show yourself approved unto Him as a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. We ought to make it a point of honor to do the Father’s will and be pleasing to Him. Let’s stand approved before Him, dearly beloved.