Whose Approval?

Whose Approval?

Read: Luke 12:4-7

“I will show you whom you should fear.”

Luke 12:5

“When you fear God, you fear nothing else . . . If you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”

—Oswald Chambers

IN WORD One enduring trait of most human beings is that we obsess about the approval of others. This obsession affects more decisions than we might realize; we might consider what others think about our job, or about the home we choose to live in, or the car we drive, or the clothes we wear. We are prone to act more spiritual than we really are when we are around other Christians, and we might act more worldly than we really are to make an impression on nonreligious folks. We are, more often than we think, shaped by the opinions—real or assumed—of those around us.

And yet this is something completely absent in Jesus’ considerations, and He expects His followers to be like Him in this regard. Jesus, in all of His teachings and His actions, shows no fear of men, whether they be hostile Pharisees or would-be disciples. His life and message are entirely God- directed, with no hint of compromise apparent. He fears no one.

IN DEED Like our Master, our lives are also to be entirely God-directed. When we obsess about others’ opinions, we have a distorted view of reality. We place more stock in something temporal and transient (and completely fickle) than we do in what is eternal and most worthy. We ignore the truly valuable (the will of God) to pursue an illusion (the approval of human beings). It is an incredibly costly exchange.

Jesus tells us emphatically not to fear men. He urges His followers to think only of God. In any decision we make, we are to consider His character and His plan and ignore the effect our decision might have on our standing in others’ eyes. Do we fear for our self-esteem? His grace will be more than enough to compensate. We are—without compromise—to seek the esteem that comes from serving God rather than the esteem that comes from human approval. Only then will we be in touch with reality.