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You're Approved!

by William Ryzek  
3/11/2012 / Christian Living


"Approved". I always get a little thrill (accompanied by relief) when this comes up on the little screen after swiping a debit card. Maybe it's because I've been denied before, much to my embarrassment like at Costco after having a huge basket of stuff ran through the checker and a long line of people behind me impatiently waiting their turn. On the one hand, this kind of approval only requires that you have enough money in the bank to cover the charge and that your arithmetic is correct; you don't need anyone else's involvement with your affairs.

On the other hand, gaining approval for a mortgage or car loan is more rigorous than swiping a debit card. Only after being scrutinized, your finances laid bare and your past weighed in the balance are you handed the keys to your new house, car or both. You passed though the gauntlet of intense personal exposure victorious.

Then there's the approval of your friends, co-workers and casual acquaintances. Like most of us you seek some kind of approval from others as a way to reinforce your sense of self-worth. After much hard work and sacrifice, you secure a good reputation, the opinion of others about you is positive and important people respect, maybe even admire you. Hopefully, a similar but more significant approval meets you when you go through the front door at home, either by a wife and children or an adoring dog.

Now, let's consider the measures by which these examples of approval are gauged. To a large degree, the first two have to do with prevailing monetary customs and expectations which in turn are decided by certain social, political and financial entities that in turn are made up of people like you. To the extent you succeed in meeting their 'measurements' (which include at the very least income, work history and credit history) you can expect a positive result. You are, in essence, allowing yourself to be judged in order to be 'approved' for whatever it is you want from these entities.

The third kind of approval is sometimes decided by a different set of measurements, what we might call personality, or character, traits. However, this all depends on what kind of approval you seek; you can gain the approval of others either by the things you have or by the kind of person you are; you decide what the measurement will be unlike the other two that are imposed from the 'outside'.

But, there is a fourth kind of approval that all of us should be most concerned with that has nothing to do with other people or groups of people but only with God. One example is found in Hebrew 11:2 where "men of old" gained God's approval by their faith in Him. What is interesting is that, for the most part, these "men of old" were everyday people made extraordinary only by their faith. Their now famous exploits are instances of God's power in and through them, not some intrinsic nobility or genius they possessed. In fact, some of them you might find pictures of in our Post Offices had they lived today.

Here, the measurement of approval has nothing to do with your circumstances (good or bad) or other people (important or otherwise) but only God and this puts you and the rest of humanity all on the same footing. Nothing we have or nothing we have done (or not done) makes one whit of difference in gaining God's approval. All that matters is this: that we are found trusting and believing Him in all aspects of our lives and even death itself.

I mention death because the word that is translated "approval" in Heb.11:2 is from the Greek root word martyreo. Our English word "martyr" is derived from this term which we know refers to someone whose life is taken, either voluntarily or by force because of their "testimony" (another meaning of the word martyreo) about some set of religious convictions. In the case of Christian martyrs, they were put to do death because of what they believed (their faith in the One True God and His Son, Jesus Christ) and their proclamation of that faith (the testimony that salvation comes only from God through Jesus Christ). So, it is said of those that have died in the faith that God "is not ashamed to be called their God" (Heb. 11:16). And, in a truly remarkable passage from Revelation we read of the great power of our Christian testimony; the "accuser of the brethren has been thrown downand they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death." (Rev. 12:10-11)

What is marvelous about all this is that our testimony about God and our faith in God is in fact an approval of God all of which is reciprocated to us by God. Put another way, if we believe in God, believe His Word and testify to this faith we have, then God testifies approvingly of us. Jesus Himself suggested the same principle in the negative when He said "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this sinful and adulterous generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38 NASB) So, the question for us is this: do we seek the approval of others more than God's approval? And since the approval of which we speak is reciprocal, the second question is do we approve, really approve, of God in our lives as evidenced by our testimony?

William Ryzek, PhD has been both a pastor and academic for several years. He has published articles in various magazines and newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected]

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