Does God meet with your approval?

Pretty much everybody has an opinion about God. It may or may not be an informed one, that is it may or may not be based on an accurate understanding of his character, but pretty much everyone has an opinion anyway.

For many people, their opinion is that God does not meet with their approval and on the basis of this view, they decide to have nothing to do with him.

This approach to relationships generally works well for most people in most areas of their lives. They wisely seek to be around people they like and who they perceive do not represent a threat to them, and they avoid those they dislike and in whose presence they feel uncomfortable, or who they calculate may do them harm.

Awkwardly however, in the most important aspect of life this does approach to relationships does not work at all. This is because the matter of whether somebody is personally reconciled to God, and thus whether they will spend eternity with him in heaven or away from him in the lake of fire, does not depend on whether God meets with their approval but rather whether they meet with his.

This is the rule; this is how it works.

A lot of people don't like this rule. They would much rather it be the case that they are the ones calling the shots, that they are in control of things (who doesn’t want to be in control?). They decide whether they will have anything to do with God in the same way they would decide whether to go to the cinema - see how they feel about what is on offer, and then make up their mind. Or deciding which vacuum cleaner to buy – but being prepared to leave without purchasing any if there isn’t one they like.

God does not audition.

God has no need of public relations consultants to advise him how he can be more popular.

God does not worry about his image or his ratings.

God is not in competition with anyone. God does not have any monthly targets to meet.

God is not touting his CV around looking for takers.

In summary, God will not be changing any time soon to become acceptable to you if he presently is not acceptable, and it would be a grave error to believe otherwise.

People who do believe otherwise have misunderstood the relationship between themselves and God, and have it entirely the wrong way around. They forget that God does not need anyone, but that everyone needs him. Reconciliation to God (without which an eternity which scarcely bears thinking about awaits) is available to everybody, but it is on his terms. And why can he dictate the terms, you ask - because he is God, and man isn't.

Contrary to what the false publicity put out about him says, God is, in his essence, love (1 John 4:8). Because of this, in spite of the dismissive way most people regard him, he has made an offer of salvation to the whole of mankind.

This offer has been on the table for around 2,000 years now, but one day it will be withdrawn.

The terms of the offer are that man must come to him through Jesus Christ, accepting the salvation he offers on the basis of belief and trust in the fact that Jesus died to take the punishment for their sins which they deserve. When a person does this, he meets with God’s approval.

So back to our question - does God meet with your approval? Frankly, it does not matter one way or another whether he does or not.

But thank God that he has made a way by which you can meet with his.