Approved of God

Being approved of God means one thing – you have pleased the Father.

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Acts 2:22 – Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

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I’ve a simple question for you today.  What does it mean to you to be “approved” of God?  Yes, I asked what it means to you.  I have no idea the variety of answers that might flow forth from that query.  The world in which we presently live is about as religious as any world that has ever been known.  New religions are popping up every day, almost like dandelions in a warm and abundantly wet spring.  And many of them, like aroma of honeysuckles on one of those spring days right after a gentle spring shower, have an attractive appearance, and an even more attractive aroma.  But, dear one, that in no way makes them right, and certainly not approved of God. 

Allow me to ask my opening question in a different way.  According to the Scriptures, what does it mean to be “approved” of God?  In reality, that is the only way to ask that question to bring forth the only truthful answer.  For you see, there is ONLY ONE WAY to please, or be “approved” of God, and that is found written very plainly in Hebrews 11:6.  There we read that “without faith it is impossible to please God.”  There, my friend, is the definitive answer; the answer that is fixed and settled forever in heaven. 

Now allow me to ask you another question.  Do you want to be “approved” of God?  If that is the case, then you have one alternative.  Set you attention to its fullest on the Word of God, for it is by the hearing of the Word of God that faith comes.  Without faith you cannot please God, and without the Word of God, your faith (if you are a believer) will diminish by the fiery darts of the wicked one until you have insufficient faith to overcome him, and FAITH IS THE VICTORY that overcomes the world.  

Now please permit ONE more question.  Are you willing to be “approved” of God?  I have discovered in my nearly seven decades of living that almost everyone I know has the will, or the desire to win.   But few have the will to PREPARE to win.  Perhaps that should be the question.  Are you willing to PREPARE to be “approved” of God?  In know; many will say that this has nothing to do with works.  But they are wrong.  It most certainly does.  Yes, we are saved by grace through faith, not of works.  However, the Scriptures confirm that faith without works is dead.  You were first “approved” of by God when you were born again.  But at that point begins the growth, the life one must live by their faith in the Son of God Who loved them and gave Himself for them.

Manna for Today – Acts 2:13-41; Hebrews 11:6; John 14:12-14; Mark 16:15-20; John 15:7;               Mark 11:22-24; Romans 10:17; 1 John 5:4; Ephesians 2:1-10; Galatians 2:20-21

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