Difficulties
God Approves Of You
I never thought much about whether God liked me or approved of me when I was a teenager or young man. I knew . . . God loved me, but I never thought about whether He liked me. If I had been pressed on that point, I probably would have concluded that God somewhat liked me. I don't think I would have said that He liked me through and through.
It was only after I truly experienced God's love—His total, unconditional, overwhelming abundant love - that I came to the place in my life where I could say with all honesty, "Yes, God likes me. He approves of me. He likes spending time with me. He likes being with me. He likes hearing me when I talk to Him, and He likes talking back to me through His Word. God thinks I'm OK."
I didn't come to that position on the basis of things I had accomplished or actions I had taken. Rather, I came to that position solely because I had a new appreciation for God's grace at work in my life. The fact is, there was nothing I had done, or could ever do, that would win God's approval. God likes me just the way I am because He created me to be just the way I am . . . God's approval of me isn't based on anything I have done or might do. He approves of me because I stand forgiven before Him. I'm forgiven because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and have received God's forgiveness. That makes me totally acceptable to Him.
The first four chapters of Romans make it very clear that we can't save ourselves. We are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God. (See Romans 3:23) But because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, we are "justified freely by His grace" (Romans 3:24 NKJV).
Jesus has done for you what you cannot do. He won for you God's full approval. You cannot have grace without the Cross. But because of the Cross, you have full access to God's grace.
Grace is God's kindness and graciousness toward you without regard to worth or merit. You can't earn grace, you can't buy grace, and you can't barter with God to receive grace. It is a free gift of God to you. There is only one thing you can do related to grace, and that is to receive grace.
Trying to Win God's Approval
Are you trying to win God's approval? Many people have that tendency, especially if they grew up with an inferiority complex . . . The reality is, you can never do enough. Just when you think that you've done enough, guilt and feelings of inferiority and a need for approval will rear up and say, "You've got to do more." There is no end.
You can never do enough to thank God for sending Jesus to the cross. You can never do enough good works to equal what Jesus Christ did in dying for your sins. You can never do enough to compensate Jesus for His sacrifice on your behalf.
Now, all [the] years when I was working hard to prove myself worthy, if you had asked me, "Is God's grace free?" I would have answered with a resounding, "Yes, it's free to me."
If you had asked, "Is God's forgiveness free?" I would have said, "Yes, it's free to me." God's forgiveness cost the life of Jesus, but to me, His forgiveness is given freely. . . .
When I fully experienced God's love in my life, I had a new perspective on grace. I was able to relax in the fact that God was extending to me the fullness of His grace. I could obtain no more grace. Christ Jesus purchased it all for me. My role was one of receiving, of thanksgiving, of loving God with my whole heart. There was nothing I needed to do. There was nothing else I could do. It had all been done for me.
Why does someone continue to strive to win more of God's approval through good works?
First, old habits. Anytime you do something for God because you think you should do it in order for God to like you better, love you more, or approve of you more highly, think again . . . That's part of old-creature thinking. That's not a part of what Jesus obtained for you on the cross.
If you are trying to pay God back for saving you, then you haven't accepted or received His grace.
If you are doing good works in order to put yourself into position to deserve eternal life, then you haven't accepted God's grace. The only means to obtain eternal life is to believe in Jesus Christ as God's atoning sacrifice on your behalf.
If you are trying to suffer for your sins in order to be worthy of salvation, then you haven't accepted God's grace. Suffering for sins is a form of purgatory; Jesus came to deliver you from that form of suffering.
If you are confessing your sins again and again and again in hopes that God might hear you and forgive you, then you haven't accepted God's grace. You don't win forgiveness because of confession. The Cross made forgiveness possible.
There is nothing, nothing, nothing, you can do to win or deserve or prove yourself worthy of God's love and grace toward you. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more than He already loves you [right now].
Excerpted from Dr. Stanley's book, The Reason For My Hope, by permission of Thomas Nelson Publishers, ©1997.
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