No Approval Necessary

I remember thinking as a young Christian that the reason God was blessing me was because of my disciplined and regular Bible study. I would get up before school every morning and study the Bible for about an hour, and then I would pray for an hour or more (I know I prayed for an hour or more because I kept checking my watch). I thought when I got to school that God would use me that day because I had done so much for Him.

Then one morning, my alarm didn’t go off. I woke up very late. I didn’t have time to pray or read my Bible. That day, God allowed me the privilege of leading someone to Christ.

Some people think, just as I did as a young believer, that they must do certain things to earn the approval of God. They think they have to somehow appease Him. But God’s righteous demands were satisfied at the cross of Calvary. We don’t have to do things like read the Bible, pray, or go to church to find God’s approval. We should do these things because we want to and because we are pleased with the opportunity to do them. God blesses us, and it is out of that blessing that we should want to do these things. We should want to serve Him, not to earn His approval, but because we already have it.

The Bible tells us that God has “made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). This means that when we put our faith in Christ, God has put His righteousness into our account. He loves us when we do well. But He also loves us when we don’t.