• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Quotation The idol of approval

The idol of approval

Posted on September 9, 2016 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment


UbelievableThis morning I was challenged by a paragraph that I read in The Unbelievable Gospel by Jonathan K. Dodson.

“In Christ, we possess a power that can rip the muzzle off, chase away the shadows, and bolster winsome, authentic gospel witness. That power lifted Jesus out of the grave, but it sits latent in our blanketed heart, where we are inordinately troubled by what others think. Beneath the blanket of persecution there often lies a golden idol, the one thing we cannot live without – the approval of others. We pine for the approval of others and would rather quiet down about the good news than speak up and risk our coworker thinking we are preach, impersonal, or intolerant. Our reluctance to talk about Jesus springs from a desire to gain the approval of others instead of resting in the approval of God our Father. We desperately need to set apart Jesus as Lord in our hearts, not what others think as lord. This is where deep security is found. To get there, the idol has to be replaced with a greater God who offers deeper security and meaning. We need the gift of repentance, regularly, to exchange our worship of what others think of us for what God the Father thinks of us in Christ – fully loved, fully accepted, no condemnation, no rejection.”

This paragraph highlights two of the reasons why I often fail to speak up about what I believe.

The first is that I forget (or I never really learned) that the power that conquered death is promised to be operative in my life if I am in Christ. The power remains constant, my appropriation of that power is restricted by my weak faith.

The second is that I am far too concerned about alienating anyone and far too concerned about what others think of me.

To these, I can add a third reason. That reason is that I am very aware of my failures and do not want to be labeled as a hypocrite. The problem is that I will never perfectly live out the truths of Scripture. I should not let my failures deter me from sharing the gospel, because my failures are why I need the Gospel in the first place.

The solution to all three of this is rather simple to understand, but difficult to do. The solution is to take my eyes off myself and focus on Jesus (see Heb. 12:1-2). In those verses in Hebrews, Jesus is presented as enduring the cross for the joy of being united to believers as a result of his sacrifice.

Certainly then, I should be willing to endure a little embarrassment for the joy of seeing others come into relationship with God.


Filed Under: Quotation Tagged With: approval, Gospel, hypocrite, idol, power

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

A. W. Tozer

Tozer on the Presence of God

This is a quote from How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit, by A. W. Tozer. “[T]here is an unseen Deity present, a knowing, feeling Personality, and He is indivisible from the Father and the Son, so that if you were to be suddenly transferred to heaven itself you wouldn’t be any closer to God […]

Cross

Defending God’s honor? A response to the Islamic riots

Riots in the Islamic world are intended to defend the prophet’s honor. A blog post at www.thinkingchristian.net triggered some thoughts about how Christians should respond.

Question 10

How did God create man?

Thankfully, our Western culture is built around the foundational idea of the dignity of man. This thought informs our laws and our practice. We think that murder is wrong. We think that individuals have rights that should not be violated. We think that each person should be able to do or become whatever he wishes to be.

Joseph the Grinder

In reading about Joseph in Matthew 1 this morning, the term “grinder” is what came to mind. Joseph could be counted on to do the right thing.

On a lost golden age

Rather than be nostalgic for something that never was, we can participate with God in responding correctly to the time in which we find ourselves.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
May 2023
SMTWTFS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Apr    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in