You Don't Need Someone's Approval To Be Happy

"It
does not matter! I am happy about it - just so Christ is preached in every way
possible, whether from wrong or right motives. And I will continue to be
happy." (Philippians 1:18
TEV)

�

You
can be happy no matter what happens in your life if you don't let others
control your attitude.

In
Philippians 1:15-17, Paul talks about four kinds of people who were affecting
his ministry while he was in prison in Rome. There were some who he considered
comrades and who encouraged him in his ministry. Others were criticizing,
competing with, or conspiring against his ministry.

�"Some of them preach
Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome, but others from genuine good
will. These do so from love, because they know that God has given me the work
of defending the gospel. The others do not proclaim Christ sincerely, but from
a spirit of selfish ambition; they think that they will make more trouble for
me while I am in prison" (Philippians 1:15-17 TEV).

�Few
things rob your happiness faster than being criticized or feeling like others
are working against you. Why? Because we all want to be loved. We all want
approval. We want everybody to like us.

�Yet
Paul says in Philippians 1:18, "It does
not matter! I am happy about it - just so Christ is preached in every way
possible, whether from wrong or right motives. And I will continue to be
happy."

�You
don't need other people's approval to be happy.

�You're
as happy as you choose to be! If others are unhappy with you, that's their
choice. If you haven't got someone's approval now, you're probably not going to
get it. And you're going to be miserable if you try to live for the approval of
everybody else.

�Paul
later explains in verses 29 and 30 why you can be happy no matter what: "For you have been given not only the
privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We
are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you
know that I am still in the midst of it" (NLT).

�Paul
says it is a privilege to suffer when you're doing the right thing because
you're most like Jesus when somebody's nailing you to a cross and trying to get
at you.

�You
can be happy no matter what happens if you look at every problem from God's
viewpoint and never let what other people say or do control your happiness.

�Talk It Over

�For
whose approval have you been working? Why do you think you need that person's
approval?�Why
is there more freedom in God's approval than another person's?

�

When
you feel most attacked or criticized, how might God be working in you and
through you?