LIVING LIFE    A. B. G.

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

 

“If I were still trying to please men,

I would not be a servant of Christ.”

The Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:10

 

Do you live your life A.B.G. or A.B.M.? What’s that you say? These acrostics stand for “Approved By God” and “Approved By Men.” My question raises the issue of what motivates our behavior and actions as well as influences our decisions and commitments. Do we live our life seeking the approval of men or God?

 

Too often we live our lives motivated by how we think we will be perceived or accepted by others. The way we dress, the cars we buy, the house we live in, and how we spend our free time, the degree with which we seek to serve in our church body or minister to others often depends on how we view the opinions and perceptions of others. Is this the way it should be? I doubt it.

 

Yes, our reputation as Christians is important because we are representatives or ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ…,” The quality of our lives is a witness to the fact that we have truly accepted Christ as our Savior and Lord.  The problem is if we live our lives striving to please men by appearances of holiness, we miss the central calling we have as servants of Christ.

 

We have been saved to allow God’s Spirit to fill us with His presence, guide us in a lifestyle of holiness and mold us into the image of Christ. If the motivation in our hearts and minds is to please God and to seek His approval by obedience and service, then our lives will reflect a reputation that is approved by God. Seeking the approval of man has numerous hidden dangers.

 

When we are motivated to live our lives by attempting to earn the acceptance of men, we are placing something other than God on the throne of our lives. In a sense we have placed the idol of man’s approval on the altar of our hearts and minds. We no longer look to the Lord of the Word or the Word of the Lord for guidance; we lean to our own understanding in seeking the manner in which we live. Proverbs 3:5, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” shouts to us that leaning to our own wisdom and knowledge will inevitably lead us down a crooked path to destruction. Seeking the approval of man, we will be tempted to ignore God’s Spirit as it speaks to us. Instead, we will listen to our own voice that is driven by our emotions, which in turn, is fueled by our need for acceptance by others. We begin trusting in our cravings for the approval of man rather than God’s desires for our lives.

 

God wishes the best for us as His beloved children. He wants us to experience the everlasting joys of life, both on this earth and eternally in heaven. Seeking God’s approval means that we strive to obey His Word. We continually listen for the voice of His Spirit. We allow ourselves to be conformed to the example Christ set before us. We dramatically live out Paul’s words, “To live is Christ”, Philippians 1:20. This calling to seek the approval of God is not an easy one.

 

The world, the flesh and the devil battle against us as we strive to seek the approval of God. The world tells us that popularity is to be prized. Our flesh tells us that we need to be accepted by others. The devil whispers in our ears that we must compromise God’s standards so that others will love us.

 

When we allow ourselves to accept the truth of God’s Word we realize that we are to live according to the instruction we are given in 1 Peter 1:15 16, “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” Living a holy life is impossible without the saving work of Christ taking place in our life. It is impossible unless we seek to be filled with His Spirit. It is impossible unless we are seeking the approval of God. When we seek to be approved by God we are not seeking His acceptance, because He has already accepted us as His own.

 

When God saves us by His glorious grace, He adopts us as sons and daughters. We never have to earn His love, but as His children we demonstrate our love for Him when we live according to His will. We verify our commitment as servants of Christ when we strive to live according to the role model of God’s Son. Seeking to live holy lives is not accomplished by working at being good, it is achieved by allowing the Holy Spirit to live in us and fill us with His presence and power. Isaiah 64:6 convicts us of the fact that seeking to do “righteous deeds” to earn God’s approval is unacceptable. Without the Holy Spirit guiding our actions and working in our lives, our behavior cannot receive approval from God.  Living filled with God’s Spirit will gain us the approval of God, but living in this manner may cost us the approval of man.

 

When we live as we should as Christians, seeking God’s approval, we may have to relinquish relationships, we may be called to put aside popularity, and we may forfeit fame. We may feel that we are losing our witness for Christ because other will seem to persecute us for our lifestyle. Christ warned us of this when He said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” John 15:20.

 

Another scripture passage that instructs us to live for God’s approval not the approval of others is Thessalonians 2:1-8, “For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our reception among you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered and been treated abusively in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not intending to please people, but to please God, who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is our witness— nor did we seek honor from people, either from you or from others, though we could have asserted our authority as apostles of Christ. But we proved to be gentle among you. As a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children, in the same way we had a fond affection for you and were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. We cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”

 

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children; so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

 

God’s approval comes when He sees faith demonstrated in our lives. We must be willing to live a life that reflects faith in God, for without faith we cannot please God. Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.” Walking the path, which leads to the approval of God is difficult, but there is no other path the true Christian should be traveling.

 

So, are you running the race seeking the ribbon that states APPROVED BY GOD or Approved by Man? When this life is over, our motives for living will be revealed by the Lord God Almighty. The approval of our fellow man is temporal and worthless compared to the approval from God, which is eternal and priceless.

 

1 Corinthians 4:1 5

“So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.”