Approved or Appointed?
Once upon a time I taught a Warrior Mom class, and all of the ladies loved me and the material, except one. When she approached me to tell me what she did not like, I was thankful that God had recently been impressing upon me to not get my approval from man. I took what she said as constructive criticism, and I pondered it and asked God if anything she was saying had relevance or if all of what she was saying was just a plot from the enemy to discourage me. I have found that the best way to filter people’s displeasure with you is through God. Sometimes, they have a good point. Sometimes they don’t. It turns out that most of what she was saying was rooted in issues of insecurity that resided within her, but she did make one good point so I took her suggestion to God and asked Him how to incorporate it within the material.
Recently, I was talking with a good friend, and a fellow leader in the church. As she began talking about how “ten out of eleven of the ladies in her class loved her and the material, but there was one who did not…” I immediately knew where she was going. My friend wanted to know if she should change the class to fit this particular lady’s request. Many times, if we are wondering about something, as soon as we voice it aloud to a friend, it’s like we hear it for the first time, and we know what to do. My friend knew what to do. My friend knew that she should stand firm and not allow the disapproval of one lady to seep past her armor, into the fibers of her being – thereby affecting her self-confidence, her thoughts, and her mission.
We talked about how self-confidence is rooted in self. Many times our self-confidence can be affected by whether people like us or not, but having Confidence in Christ is not affected by whether someone approves or disproves of us. It is Confidence in Christ that allows us to stand firm when He has appointed us to do a good work, in His Name, regardless of whether people approve or not. I wrote a poem entitled Confidence in Christ, which addresses this topic.
Confidence in Christ
We profess an importance
In self-confidence,
I have a new idea
To profess –
A positive attitude
Yes, is invaluable
But, there is one greater
That makes
Mountains movable
Self? Mere self?
To accomplish a task
Even with a million men’s strength
There is something a lack
Smarts, intellect, genius and more
It’s not enough
To help the broken
Up from the floor
Accomplishments, splendor
And magnificent goals
Who enabled you to do it?
May I, say what I know?
It is God who conquers
The force of a million men
It is God who sent His Son
To our hearts He did lend.
It is confidence in Christ
That makes children strong
It is confidence in Christ
That discerns right from wrong
It is confidence in Christ
That helps land the job
It is confidence in Christ
That makes bearable the journey
That is long
Confidence in Christ
Teaches children of all ages
That life is more
Than just earning wages –
What is important?
What is possible?
What happens when self-confidence alone
Isn’t enough to handle
……life?
Self – that tells you
It’s a word that has some strength, but
“Self” is nothing
without God’s grace:
Confidence in Christ –
Yes, that is the key
To accomplishing anything
& being set free.
Confidence in Christ.
There is no “self” in that phrase
It’s confidence in Christ
That leads us through life’s maze.
Confidence & Christ
Don’t ever separate the two
For in this life “self” alone can
Make a fool out of you
I am confident in Christ
That this message you understand
And I am confident that with faith
You can now see His
Outstretched hand.
Sure, it’s nice to receive a compliment for a job well done. It feels good to be liked and supported. God provides encouragers in our lives because He knows we need that sometimes, but He does not want us to depend on it as our approval or our self-worth barometer. In fact, as I was talking with my friend, God impressed upon me a profound lesson. Both my friend and I were in awe at what He taught us.
God’s wants us to grow and mature in Him. He wants us to graduate from spiritual milk to spiritual meat.
You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
One of the many wonderful things about God is that as we seek Him, He promises that we will find Him. As we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. As we take each step in faith, God provides the land and the territory that we will possess. And more so, as we become more and more equipped in His Word, we will face challenges (that He has prepared us for) to advance the Kingdom of Hearts for His Name’s sake. As we realize the importance of our mission on this earth, we are less thwarted by whether the world accepts us or not. In fact, we are reminded in His Word that we will have trouble. But we are also reminded to take heart because He has overcome the world.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
They persecuted me, they will persecute you.
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
As my friend and I were talking, an image came to my mind. I saw Jesus suffering on the cross. I saw all the people around Him who hated Him. In that instant, it hit me, He was surrounded by people who disapproved of Him. If Jesus had been thwarted by whether or not people approved of Him, He would have stopped telling the Truth, but He would have had to conform to the people in order to do so. And then I realized that God is constantly encouraging us to do the same.
Whoever you are, or wherever you are, God desires for you to mature to the point when you can go from nine out of ten people loving you to ten out of ten people disapproving of you, and you are not moved either way! And so, He provides opportunities for us to grow by allowing someone or something to come into our life that makes us question ourselves. The key, however, is to not measure things based on our self-confidence, but rather to measure them against confidence in Christ. You see, when we compare things to Christ, He is always bigger and He always wins; He has an unlimited amount of love, support and strength. But when we compare things to ourselves, we lose every time because we, in and of ourselves, are not enough – and we never will be. He designed us to depend on Him. Therefore, we must remember that when we experience disproval of man, we must ask ourselves whether or not we will be moved by approval of man or whether we will stand firm based upon the powerful appointment of Christ in our life.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for the saints. Ephesians 6:10-18
Kristina Seymour loves to encourage and equip women through the Word and through community. She is the author of The Warrior Mom Handbook, The Warrior Mom Leadership Manual, and The Warrior Wife Handbook; they are available at Amazon.com. Kristina's Bible studies are for women who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. She has learned that women can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about Kristina, please visit her website, https://kristinaseymour.com/. God loves to share His story of love and grace through us all, and Kristina believes that everyone has a story to tell.
Kristina Seymour loves to encourage and equip women through the Word and through community. She is the author of The Warrior Mom Handbook, The Warrior Mom Leadership Manual, and The Warrior Wife Handbook; they are available at Amazon.com. Kristina's Bible studies are for women who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. She has learned that women can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about Kristina, please visit her website, https://kristinaseymour.com/. God loves to share His story of love and grace through us all, and Kristina believes that everyone has a story to tell.
Originally published Tuesday, 27 August 2024.
SHARE
