Hey, y’all! So, today has been a good and bad day in so many ways. It was a really good day at school, but I came home, and I fell apart for reasons I just can’t describe. I got home and I was having some homework issues with printing out some stuff, and so that pushed my homework back, so I knew God was calling me to just sit down and write a blog; so here I am. This topic has always been on my heart but it has been pounding on my heart for the past day or two. And what I’m writing about is… approval. This is something that I know I struggle with and I see other people struggling with it as well.
Lately at school, I’ve seen people wanting to be in the “popular crowd” or the “sports crowd” or whatever friend group you want to be in. Trust me, I struggle with it too. There’s such a pressure to just fit in. You have to wear these clothes, or you have to play this sport, or you have to be funny, or whatever it is that the “clique” requires. The sad thing is, we all want to be in. We all want approval. We all want affirmation. We all want others to look at us, and love us. And y’all, that’s the devil trying to tell us differently from who we are. But I can tell you right now, it does not matter a single bit what someone thinks of you or whether you’re “in” because God has the first and last say on who you are, and nothing can change that. You are his, and you are his chosen child by the grace of God, and there is nothing in the whole world that could ever separate you from his embrace, and his perfect, outrageous love.
In every school, you can’t escape the pressure you put on yourself, and the devil puts on you, of being liked. It is CRAZY, the things people will do to get attention. But right now in this very moment, I am telling you that you shouldn’t be looking for other people’s approval, but for God’s approval.
The reason why I’m saying all this is because you were created in the image of Christ, not the image of your friends. It doesn’t matter if you’re captain of the cheerleading team, or if you didn’t even make the team. It doesn’t matter if you’re the quarterback on varsity football, or if you’re 7th string. We were all made in Christ’s likeness, and he calls us his beloved. Isn’t that just amazing? God loves you so stinking much, that he calls you his beloved, his good and faithful servant, his adored child.
Y,all, this isn’t the girl at school calling you these things, This is the God of the Universe who created all things, and he is the ruler of the entire world and everything in it is good. This is the person calling you his beloved. For me, this gives me peace. Because when I know that God loves me so much and that I don’t need the approval of others, I feel this huge weight being lifted off of me because I am free to be me.
Psalm 139:13-15 says, “For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”
What David is saying in this psalm is that the Lord truly made us in him and he is so wonderful. Y’all, scripture says it right in front of our eyes, that we are made in him, and our approval should not be in others. He says it over and over again to assure us where our hope is.
He fills us with promises of his grace, and he gives us peace when we are stumbling. He remains our Rock of Ages when the day seems long, and he calls us his beloved sons and daughters. May you always rest in this peace of our amazing God and always be assured of his true, abundant love, forever.
simplyblair 