“Your approval means nothing to Me, because I know you don’t have God’s love within you. For I have come to you in My Father’ name, and you have rejected Me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them. No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God.” -John 5:41-44
Have you ever noticed how counterculture Jesus was? He wasn’t interested in being buddy-buddy with the religious leaders of the day; he wasn’t interested in politics. Jesus was only interested in the redemption of His people. “Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep – the people of Israel.’” -Matthew 15:24
The Pharisees angered Jesus because He saw how their tactics were keeping people away from God and His Spirit versus drawing them to Him. They were more interested in the way they looked to others. (Matthew 23) Jesus didn’t care much for their approval, because He knew they were mainly out for themselves. In the end, the people, (influenced by the Pharisees), decided. Crowd approval can be dangerous.
In our own lives, it’s easy to want to be approved by everyone. It’s a lot more warm and fuzzy to be liked! But, sometimes God might call us to do things that make those around us uncomfortable or ruffle some feathers. This doesn’t mean we don’t listen to those we’re accountable to – but it means we’re not afraid of being politically incorrect.
We don’t need to be concerned with crowd approval, but we do need to be concerned with our own motive. Are we doing something because we love God, or because we’re afraid of people? Are we loving others? Are we serving those we are called to serve? As long as we have God’s approval, we don’t need to worry about the crowd.
