Skip to main content

Seeking Approval

Luke 17:7-10
“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
We as humans are always seeking praise for the things that are expected of us, as if praise is due. As a bondservant of Christ, we are required to complete whatever is asked of us to our utmost capability and complete it without the need to be recognized because often times, we will not be. We are always seeking for the approval of others, anything that will feed our pride and make us seem as though we are better than we truly are. Of course, a pat on the back is always appreciated every once in a while, but when it becomes routine, we begin to do things simply for the reward that follows. However, when we quit doing things to be recognized and begin doing things for the Lord, we realize that His opinion is the only one that matters. That way, when people do not acknowledge us, we do not care because we are not doing it for them, we are doing it for Him. To be told as Matthew 20:23 says, “…Well done, good and faithful servant.” What recognition could be better than the One of Him who created us? Absolutely nothing. But more often times than not, we forget that we were not designed to rely on the praise received from others but from the praise received from Him. I know I am guilty of yearning for the approval of others and when I do not receive it, I become easily discouraged. Being easily discouraged, I then wonder why I do anything for anybody, forgetting that it is not about anyone else but Christ. 

Application
This week during servant time, I will thank the Lord that I am able to do His work for His glory. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Off Balance

1 Corinthians 12:14-15 “ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.” Simply spoken, even when we feel as though we do not belong, that does not mean we are allowed to quit. Each one of us has a vitally important role in the body of Christ, just as the foot plays a vitally important role to the body. Without the foot, the body would be off balance and we would not be able to walk. Without the ability to walk, how would the will of God be fulfilled? It wouldn’t. Similarly, we must be willing to submit to the calling the Lord has placed on our lives without being quick to reject it. His plan is perfect, and even if it is something we are not accustomed to, if it is in His will, it will pan out for our good and His glory. I despised the majority of my time as a nurses aide, and looking back, I realize now that I was relying on stre...

The Remedy

1 Timothy 4:8 “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” To be disciplined in exercising our physical bodies, we must push ourselves everyday to do more, to be better. We must endure the pain that follows if we want to remain fit but after a while, it becomes routine and though the pain might still be evident, it is no longer bothersome. It becomes so routine that it feels odd when we do not do it, as if we are breaking a law that we ourselves have put in place. In the same way, we must exercise our faith in the Lord on a daily basis to remain in His will for our lives. Our Father strives to have that personal relationship with us, but like any earthly relationship, it takes effort; it takes prayer, reading, and listening to what the Father is conveying to us. Though exercising our physical bodies may give us relief for a short while, spending quality time with the Lord is...

Vertical Identity

Psalms 139:13-14 “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” It is so easy to get caught up in the lies of the enemy who whispers in my ear that I am not good enough. It is so easy to look to the left and to the right at my sisters in Christ and compare myself to their seeming flawlessness, forgetting that Jesus died for their sins, too. Sure, I am louder and more outspoken than most, but this by no means indicates that the Lord loves me any less because He created me to be that way. It is only when I come to accept these aspects about myself that I consider to be so detrimental that the Lord can use them for His glory and my good. Does this mean that I will assume perfection? Absolutely not, but it does mean that I no longer have to be a slave to self-hatred. It means that I no longer have to rely on horizontal approval when my identity...