Well done, good and faithful servant.
—Matthew 25:21
When Giuseppe Verdi’s first opera was being performed in Florence, his eyes were focused on the face of the one man whose approval he craved—Gioachino Rossini. Rossini was Italy’s most prolific composer, creator of thirty-nine operas before he laid aside his pen.
We all desire approval and affirmation.
But human approval is fickle, subject to change without notice.
Paul considered human accolades erratic and set his aim on divine approval. “We speak as men approved by God . . . We are not trying to please men but God” (1 Thes 2:4).
Self-adulation is also a slippery slope: “It is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends” (2 Cor 10:18).
Human approval is pleasant but not essential.
God’s approval is essential.