Searching For Approval- John 5

We all like approval. We like to know our vitamins are FDA approved. We want the meat from the grocery store to be USDA approved. We like it when our loan application gets approved. And, we like it when people approve of us.
In general, most of what every person wants is the approval of another. We want to know that people like us. We want them to think we are smart, or funny, or attractive, or kind. We want people to approve of our behavior. And on a more intimate level, we want the people close to us to approve of who we are… our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. We want to be approved by others.
Check out John 5:41. Jesus is talking about the approval, but not in the way we do. He says, “Your approval means nothing to me.” (NLT) Wow! That sounds pretty harsh. But if you dig into the rest of what Jesus is saying here, you’ll see that He really means it. He’s not looking for the approval of me, you, or anyone else. He doesn’t care if you put a gold star next to His name on your chart of importance. He is not looking for you to approve of Him. When Jesus was on the earth, He was only looking for the approval of the Father. As long as the Father was pleased, who cares what anyone else thinks?
What would happen if for just one day, you didn’t care what anyone else thought? What would happen if you stopped looking for the approval of others? What would happen if you were only looking for the approval of the Father?
Just this morning, I read the story of a French woman named Blandina that lived in the 3rd century. She was arrested and tortured for being a Christian. She was beaten so severely that her torturers would get worn out and have to stop. They did this day after day after day. They tried to feed her to wild beasts, but she survived, so they went back to daily torture. Finally, they wrapped her in a fishing net, and left her at the mercy of an angry bull that eventually killed her. Something tells me that Blandina didn’t really care if she had the approval of anyone that might have been watching. Something tells me she was only interested in the approval of the Father.
If you are going to spend your life searching for approval, whose approval is it that you seek?