Approval, Pt.1

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Gal 1:10 NIV)

Whenever we begin to raise and elevate the standards of Jesus Christ there will be opposition (Yes, Jesus does have standards, He does give commands, He does have orders to dispense – “as the Father has sent me, so send I you”; “if you love me, keep my commandments”). I am always amazed though at where the opposition comes from – we often think that it would be the “atheists” or “pagan idol worshiping hell-bounders” (whom I love by the way) in our midst, but typically the attacks and critiques come from the religious crowd, sometimes even from within.

At The Dialogue Church we are not here to win the approval of men (or women:). We are here to please Jesus and ride on His train. The minute I, as the senior leader of this amazing faith community, start spending more time on the approval of men (which also means trying to explain myself to all the critics) is the minute I start losing my focus on the approval from Jesus. I say this with complete humility and love (and an honest brokenness for people who are missing out on the greatest adventure in the universe, the mission of Jesus and His Church) – I am here for the approval of Jesus, not YOU!