January 17, 2022 - Galatians 1:10

“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” Galatians 1:10 NLT

Lord, this verse is beautifully true. It really is impossible to live to both please man and you. We will serve whomever we are seeking to get our approval from. We can’t be an effective servant of you if we want others’ approval more. We will only be pulled in two directions. Lord, even if the people we want approval from are Godly people, they can’t replace you and we can’t put their approval above your approval.

We want everything about our lives to be about pleasing you. Help us get past wanting or needing the approval of man. We want any fear of man or any need for the approval of man in our lives to be put to death. Help us grow in this area. Open our eyes to any place in our lives that we are getting our value from something other than you. If we are, show us what we need to do to realign our “value meter” so it is only affected by you. Open our eyes to any place that we have bought into believing something about ourselves that is different from what you say about us. If we have, show us what we need to do to uproot that lie and replace it with your truth.

Lord, we also want to ask forgiveness for any of these places that you point out. We are sorry for placing anything above you. We are so grateful for your forgiveness. We commit to living our lives for you above all else. We know if we put you in our “number one” place and only seek your approval, you will help us put everything else into the appropriate place. Give us the courage and strength needed to say “yes” to you, even if it means others will not approve, especially if those others are important people in our lives. Give us wisdom on how to do that in the most honoring way, but still put you first. Lord, we want you to always be first in our lives.

In Jesus name, amen.