Acceptance/Approval

The driving force for most people is pleasing people, approval. By striving to do our best, we satisfy the needs of the business and the team goals. That's a great thing, the way to be successful. However, caught up in that mentality for our very existence clouds a vacuum in our lives. We reach the top of the ladder, and there's always another rung. We get the approval of those significant persons, and we are hollow. We are imprisoned in a world where all our energies are spent trying to gratify others.

This happens in the corporate world and in the Christian world. Paul said that "we are accepted in the beloved." Eph 1:6 As I previously blogged using Ephesians 1:4-6, our striving can rest. The acceptance is already there. The more we allow His Spirit to work through us, the more we obey the Spirit's promptings, the more we know we belong. We are at home. We are completely accepted.

There's a club at UT Austin called Koinonia Christian Fellowship. Debbie Fitz wrote "I know that my identity is not defined by what I do or by my title. My true identity is that I am a sinner forgiven by God, a child of God, His servant." http://koinoniatexas.org/2009/12/galatians-5-%E2%80%93-devotional-commentary/ This is the ultimate identity. What we do plays into the picture, but after we are fully aware and enjoying His acceptance and approval.

Somewhere in the Psalms there is a word picture of a child weaned from his mother illustrating how we are satisfied and whole in Christ.