You’ve Been Approved

The Approval

Published by Deborah Negron M.A., B.S.

Everyone looks at those that appear to be approved by their peers. Those who have succeeded in some attempt of accomplishment seek the approval of others in order to receive validation.

Today we seek validation from different sources.
Peer pressure exists and the validation of peers within youth is still sought by those who desire to feel a part of, a sense of belonging and being part of the collective group.

The uncomfortable parent that appears to agree with all the other parents are allowing their children to do, these are sad people. They refuse to stand for what is right or what is sound. They simply want their kids to participate in whatever the others are doing because their sense of belonging and worth was hindered some how. They may not want their children to suffer the feeling they may have gone through so they tell them to participate.

As a Homeschooler is dis not ever go with the flow. I chose to educate my own children and go through the hassle, the challenges and the pressures of staying up late, reading material, preparing lesson plans, engrossed in understanding what it is I was going to teach them. Not an easy feat. I do not know If I would have it in me today, to do it again. Needless to say. I did not care to fit so neatly in to a box of what the norms of the day were.

The rhetoric in schools at the time were telling my children to conform to alternate lifestyles and families with two daddies and no mom. Or two moms and no dad. The absurdity of even suggesting that a society can even survive without moms and dads is laughable.

Stop, use your brains. God created a man and a woman. These were predesigned to interact and copulate in order to cause an egg to be fertilized by the sperm. Simple, straight forward and precisely what society want s to deviate from. Sadly, we have a generation of confused young people today who believe their own choice is greater than the forces of nature. Today we have a generation that rebels against morality as if it were some crazy form of oppressive constraint. Depression and anxiety comes when one is deviating from the natural way in which we were designed. Sadness and a sense of great loss comes when parents do not teach their children that their identity is something that one receives at birth. Except for the anomalies in which there are poor souls that were malformed and a result of some poor ailment at birth.
For the vast majority, a male is a male and a female is a female. On a death certificate where an accident renders a person unrecognizable, the bones tell the story. The structure within the skin and muscles and tissue tell the truth. This male John Doe or Female Doe was found.

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:27‭-‬28

Be fruitful and multiply, procreate, make children, offspring to cause their to be families. People are the greatest part of creation. Human beings are the crown of God’s creation.
My Daddy was a preacher. He taught me what it was to believe the God of the Bible. He would say, “If the Bible says it, I believe it.”
He lived his life in such a way that even strangers respected him. He was a man of his word. He was an honest man, a dutiful husband and a lover of humanity.
We saw him bring home so many missionaries and ministers that came to visit. He showed us what it is to love people and share God’s love.

We share God’s love with Truth. We do not make vague the parts that seem to harsh to hear. Jesus loves the sinner.
That confused young person who does not know who they are, God loves them. That mom who is about to abort their unwanted child, Jesus loves her. That annoying alcoholic who posters people on the street because his mental distress is such that he self medicates with alcohol, yeah, God loves him too.
That smoothly pampered lady with he false eyelashes, false nails, false enhancements desperately trying to have others approve her; God loves her too. Theat business man who secretly doctors the books thinking he will never get caught, God loves him. The boy whose father was an absentee dad and he does not know how to be a man, confused about his sexuality in a world that pressures him to choose whatever gender he prefers… The Lord Jesus loves him.

The Lord sees our struggles and our shortcomings and we may think we need to fit in to some subgroup or some main group. The truth is, we need to come to Christ. His approval is clear. His love secure.
His forgiveness certain.
When we come to the end of our rope and confusion and the disparity around us seems to block our path to stabilty, it is Christ Jesus that gives clarity and peace.

The Acceptance and forgiveness He offers changes our sense of loss and fear.
His loves covers a multitude of sins. His mercy envelops us and covers us.
He restores our mental stability and our perceptions of what we ought to be.
God’s word then becomes our moral compass. He daily causes us to experience His hope.

Some want the approval of people. The Approval of God is more rewarding. It will be what brings you in to a community of believers that becomes your family. A Global family of those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those of us who have looked at the word of God with expectation have not been disappointed.

When I confessed my confusion and my anger, my doubts and my fears…
When I asked God to reveal his love for me. He allowed my eyes to see the Babe in the Manger, Luke 2. He caused me to see the Man on the middle Cross… Luke 23:34, Luke 23:43.

The love of God became real and personal for me.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16‭-‬18
God made my mind think on the Empty Tomb Mrk 16:1-8.

This same Jesus is the one who has loved us, You and Me…
Since the beginning.
In the midst of our despair and when we have been headed in the wrong direction…
This Jesus is the one who offered us His Grace and His Love and Forgiveness.

Oh, do you really want to belong?
Are you desiring to be a part of a greater Group. Oh do you need to Have Approval? COME…
COME TO JESUS…

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
John 6:37

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I John 1:9

He is faithful. He will begin a good work in you and complete it. He will cause you to experience his love, joy and his peace.

No exclusions at the foot of the Cross. No Barriers. Just Come as you are.
He will make your crooked paths straight. He will give you Beauty for Ashes. He will turn your sadness and sorrow to gladness. Your weeping He will turn to dancing.

Come Receive His Approval.