"God's Stamp of Approval"

Scripture: “What you say about yourself means nothing in God's work. It's what God says about you that makes the difference.” -2 Corinthians 10:18, The Message

One of the funniest and yet real aspects of life is when someone gives you their “stamp of approval”. Oftentimes, we look for someone’s stamp of approval for our spouses before we get married. We also look for someone’s stamp of approval of selecting a particular car, house, ring, or any other inanimate object. We even look for our boss’s stamp of approval on the workplace when it comes to doing a good job on a case or just work in general. As a human, yes, these stamps of approval are important, but they are not the stamps of approval you or I really need! God wants to encourage you today and let you know that it is His stamp of approval that matters most! Just in case you don’t believe that, let’s examine some text to clarify this point.

Today, our message is located in the 2^nd letter Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. Scholars state that within today’s chapter of focus, Chapter 10, Paul’s intent was to defend the ministry that God had gave him to do. Ladies and gentlemen, there will come seasons in your life where you have to go on the offensive and let the enemy know that you treasure the ministry God has placed in you! You are going to have to go on the offensive to show the naysayers how good God really is and how righteous people get what they deserve through endurance, hurt, pain, longsuffering, faith, and the other Fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5. Nevertheless, as Paul was defending his ministry to the church at Corinth, he allows them to understand and us to understand the importance of God’s approval.

The Message Bible begins today’s scripture with this awesome statement: “What you say about yourself means nothing in God’s work.” In other words, there’s no need to boast about yourself. The previous verse makes mention that if you are going to boast, boast about God who did it! Don’t boast about the fact that you are a GS-15, boast about the fact that God made you a GS-15! Don’t boast about the fact that you have a beautiful home, boast about the fact that God has granted you to have a beautiful home! Don’t boast about the fact that you have a brilliant mind, boast about the fact that God has given you a brilliant mind! Whatever things you want to say about yourself, make sure you are giving the right man the credit because as you boast/say things about yourself, Paul lets us know that it means nothing in doing the work of our Father!

The last part of this scripture should bless you wherever you are sitting. Peterson converts Paul’s latter portion of today’s scripture this way, “It’s what God says about you that makes the difference.” Though your boss says that you are not much of a worker, but God knows you are, it’s God’s stamp of approval that matters! Though your husband/wife may not necessarily appreciate your efforts, but God sees all and hears all, then it’s God’s stamp of approval that matters! Though you have no business working at a particular place because you didn’t meet the “requirements”, but you met God’s requirements, then know that’s God’s stamp of approval that matters! Though you have no business in a beautiful home and yet your credit is bad, but you are humble in the eyesight of God, know that it was God’s stamp of approval that matters! If we think about the life that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ lived, many did not want to give Him their stamp of approval, but God in Heaven, gave Him THE STAMP of APPROVAL! No matter what you are dealing with or no matter what are you going through, I want to encourage your heart today that God’s stamp of approval matters!

In closing, I thank God for not getting hung up in being validated by people. I am must hung up on being validated by God! Today, I encourage you to allow God to validate you and place His stamp of approval over you and your life! There are great things in store for you, but do not allow people and life’s negativity to derail you from the things He has for you!