Approved

Luke 6:24-26 (The Message)

But it's trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
What you have is all you'll ever get.

And it's trouble ahead if you're satisfied with yourself.
Your self will not satisfy you for long.

And it's trouble ahead if you think life's all fun and games.
There's suffering to be met, and you're going to meet it.

"There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them.

Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

Here's a basic truth of life...no other person, no place, no time, no thing, no situation can make you "happy."

The faster we learn that, and the faster we take it into our lives, the better off we are. I really think that truth is what Jesus is trying to teach us.

Please don't misunderstand: there's nothing wrong with "happy." "Happy" is wonderful, and we should all experience it. But as long as we look to the world to "make us happy," we're in for a bumpy ride.

It goes like this, you see: "when I get that job, that spouse, that car, that baby, that fill-in-the-blank, then I'll be happy."

And then, eventually, even when you've gotten that job, spouse, car, baby, fill-in-the-blank, you find out that there are still things to complain about after all.

Even more dangerous still is living for approval and accolades from other people. People themselves change, and their opinions change like the breeze. And, approval may be one of the most addictive drugs going, because it feels so very good when we have it.

There's only one right, healthy, way to move through this life with peace and love.

Seek first relationship and love from God. Connection with God begins to change it all. When you know that God loves you and that you're "right" in that relationship, you begin to learn to love the people, things, and even situations that surround you.

That is a peace that passes the world's understanding. That's the path of becoming a disciple.

Prayer: Our Father, we pray today that you would truly help us appreciate our daily bread as a pure and generous gift from you. Draw us closer to you, so that all of our relationships begin and end in you. We yearn for real connection with you because it changes everything else. Protect us from the approval of others and bless us with your own.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.