“The approval of man is like chasing the wind. You can run all your life and never catch it.”
~ Matt Chandler
Here is a link to the sermon:
Anyway, the thing that struck me the most about the sermon this time was that quote,
Those words resonate with me so much because as I look back at my life, I see a life driven by this idol of approval.
I think back to the 5th grade when I started cussing because one of the “cool kids” laughed when I said sh*t at the local arcade. (sorry Mom, but its true 😉
I think back to the 10th grade when my friends and I all made fun of the effeminate boy in our class.
I think about my freshman year of college when I started drinking so that I could fit in with my fraternity brothers.
I think back to almost everyday of trying to be so nice, so cool, so funny, that there is no possible way that people could not approve of me.
It wasn’t even until this summer that I knew I was idolizing approval. All of a sudden God showed me that no matter how many people approved of me, it would never be enough. I was on this never ending treadmill running as fast as I could trying to lead the best Bible 
study, share the Gospel with the most people, make all the guys think I’m cool, and all the girls think that they want to date me. And all of a sudden, I knew what slavery was…it didn’t matter how many people thought those things about me, it was never enough. I was trapped into this impossible cycle of trying to attain perfection.
I doubt I’m the only person who has ever struggled with this. Whether we desire acceptance from all or maybe just one person like our Dad, it’s a parasitic bondage we put ourselves into as it slowly eats away the life God prepared for us. Picture found: http://www.firstscience.com/home/cartoons/strange-matter-parasite-psychoanalysis_177.html
But praise be to God who saved me, and saved you too. Over the past 5 months, God has completely freed me from this fear of rejection and this idol of approval. Freedom was a big topic at camp, and I think the AIM staff explained it well.
“Freedom is NOT never struggling with an issue ever again, it’s having the choice to choose godliness over ungodliness.”
See before I began confessing the truth about what God says about me, I didn’t have a choice as to how I would interact with people. The pull inside me to be approved by others was so strong that I hated to miss out on what the group was doing (My friends dubbed it FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out). I needed to be in the center of attention. I made sure people saw me as smart, funny, spiritual, etc… If I did or said something questionable, I would quickly rationalize it to make sure people still thought positive about me. I HAD to be this person…
Keyword–HAD. I HAD to be that person. But I don’t anymore. My approval and acceptance does not come from men, it comes from God, in Christ. God is 100% pleased with me because He is 100% pleased with Christ! God is infinitely satisfied with me, because He is infinitely satisfied with Christ! Do you get that?? That is the most incredible truth in the world. God is pleased with us not because of what we do, not because of how much money we give away, not because of how many times we go to church, or how many people we lead to Christ. God accepts and approves of me because His son Jesus Christ lived the perfect life I couldn’t, died FOR my sins, and now lives IN me. I don’t have to live up to a standard anymore. The standard has already been met by Christ.
Now, when I feel that temptation and when I hear that voice that craves the approval of men I confess these truths from God’s Word:
In Christ…
I am fully accepted.
I am fully approved
I am fully loved
I am God’s chosen Son
In the light of those truths it’s pretty hard not to thank and praise our incredible God. When we finally begin to believe those truths life begins to get a whole lot sweeter. If any of this hits home with you, confess these truths. I can’t even explain what it feels likes to be freed from this bondage. I just know the sky looks a little bit bluer, smiles come a little bit easier, and the Gospel becomes a lot more real.
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galations 5:1
God desires freedom for all of us. Christ has given us that freedom. All we have to do is believe it. And oh how beautiful it is when we do.
