Love isn’t approval. If you approve of someone’s self-destructive behavior, you don’t truly care about them. Unconditional approval is deceptive. To approve of “whatever,” opens the door to evil.

Because we humans are easily misled, our feelings of self-approval are frequently off track and distorted by our pride. The common human belief that, “I’m a good person,” is often far from the truth.

When we violate our conscience, self-approval is swept away by guilt, yet we obsessively try to pretend that nothing has changed. Truthful confession will break guilt’s obsession. In a society where approval is more important than honesty, lies become common.

Honest criticism from one thoughtful person is almost always more accurate than the mindless approval of multitudes. There are things about all of us that aren’t worthy of approval–behaviors and attitudes that we need to resist and overcome.

There’s a lot of stress
In trying to impress,
But to humbly confess
Is freedom.

Many people want God’s approval of their wrong behavior, but God wants its removal. They want God’s consent to do wrong, but He wants them to repent. Grace is not about God’s approval. It’s about the mercy and forgiveness He gives us when we repent for rebelling against Him.

To refuse to repent is to leave your mind permanently bent around wrong. It is the descent into more and more bondage. If you want to improve, the first step is to openly disapprove of your own wrong doing.

Christianity isn’t about God’s approval. It’s about Jesus’ sacrifice to bring us forgiveness and deliverance. Jesus came to heal and restore us, not to approve of where we’re off track. If you want to improve, the first step is to openly disapprove of your own wrong doing.

If God approved
Of our behavior,
We wouldn’t need
A Savior.