Do Not Yearn For Worldly Approval

13 Aug

“I do not care very much what men say of me, provided that God approves of me.”
~ St. Thomas More

Too often, we spend our lives looking for adulation and praise.  It’s something that we crave.  I believe it is something that our human nature is “hard wired” to seek.  It is a flaw in our nature that gets us into trouble more often that we would care to admit.  When we set about seeking praise and/or approval from the world, we run the risk of drifting away from God.

Thomas More set an example for us.  He was not concerned with worldly approval.  He was positioned to receive as much praise and adulation as any person could ever hope to get.  But, he knew that God’s laws were more important and his relationship with God was of utmost concern.

Because of that, he rejected the king’s commands and lost his position in the government and lost his head as well.  Thomas More knew that the world and his king would never be able to give him salvation.  The only King’s command that concerned Thomas More was that of the King of Creation.

We claim Christ as our King yet we often live for the world.  Living for the world greatly jeopardizes our soul because the world tells us things that run contrary to the Lord.  The world tells us to get ahead at the expense of others.  The world tells us that we are the only ones who matter and that we should not be concerned with the plight of others.  The world tells us that God is not real, eternity is only a concept, and that we waste our time worshiping.

The world, however, is wrong.  It is fragile and broken and temporary.  It will end one day.  But God and His Kingdom is real, is present, and will last forever.  Spend your life for the Lord, then, rather than for any vain promise of the world.

FAITH ACTION:  Do not work for worldly praise today.  Rather, take up the work of Christ and be pleasing in His sight.