This prompt fits a classic Pauline trope that directs us to the source of grace and the proper place to seek approval:
"Am I now seeking human approval or God's approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I wouldn't be a servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10
Like many others, I can be quite a people pleaser. (And quite the iconoclast.) The reasons are complicated. Part of it is I've worked hard to achieve high levels of skill, and I don't want anyone to question my expertise, especially if they have no knowledge of that field of endeavor.
But doing something in public for the public like a piano performance, a design project, a Sunday sermon, are more distant and almost abstract than some other areas where a person seeks approval.
Consider when someone gives you a job or a task, whether or not it's part of your paid employment, whether or not it's for public consumption—and public approval. When someone tasks you, either you already have a relationship with them, or you may aspire to relate to them or their company. It could be a boss, a client (also a kind of boss because they'll be paying you if all turns out well), a job interviewer asking you to demonstrate your abilities in software X or solve sample problem Y. It could be a spouse or a sibling or another relative. In sum, any time you're doing anything that propels you into approval-seeking mode, it's not simply about you. It's about them, too. And my wanting approval is about a possible fracture in a current relationship, or maybe it's about a new relationship that won't happen if my performance isn't the best ever.
My scripture from Galatians directs us outside of and beyond all those humans whose approval we think we need. It sends us to the source of the gifts, to the Spirit that inspires our actions and our expertise. The Spirit that gathers the community and relates us to the people we believe are worth pleasing. The apostle Paul asks if we want "God's approval." And what does he tell us about pleasing people?
Think about that.
Visiting from FMF. Our posts went on a similar track. I agree it's very easy to drift into seeking approval from people, but much better to look to God.
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