Live Free with Josh Howerton - Attaboys and Approval | Ep. 102 | Tuesday June 27, 2023

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

Pastor Mike challenges us to channel our God-given drive to work hard, compete, achieve, and excel in a healthy, humble, and God-honoring way. We don't need to try to earn the love that has already been given. In Christ, we are already accepted and applauded by the One who matters most. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive podcast. We're talking this summer about some of the lies that hack into our soul and try to steal our true identity. And man, I hope this is helpful to you because we have an enemy that wants to take us out.

He loves to see us running after everything that just leaves us frustrated and empty. He loves to pull us far away from God so that we'll never really get to know him and who he says we are in his eyes. In recent days, we've been talking about how success and performance. performance can re-have-it with our identity. The lie is this, I am what I do, and how well I do it. What makes us run so fast? What makes us work so hard and compete so intensely? Well, part of it is that those are God-given drives, to work hard, to compete, to achieve, to accomplish, to excel, to rise, to win, are all good things, hardwired within us by a hard-working, excellent God. And when those things are channeled in a healthy, humble, God-honoring way,

we flourish and we even make a difference with our life. But as I look back at my own life, as I look around and see so many people with these drives that are out of balance and out of control, I think it points to something else. I think it's that hunger for acceptance. I believe a lot of us spend our entire lives chasing those elusive attaboys, and that's my girl that we seldom heard. We're hungry for approval, affirmation, acceptance, significance, love. I mean, most workaholics grew up in a performance-oriented environment where acceptance and love was earned. And the love needing kids is so strong that if you have to perform, if you have to produce and compete and excel and climb to get approval, you'll do about whatever it takes to get

that kind of love. And fast forward, and you will find that man or that woman still striving, still producing, still performing, still longing to hear in their adult years what they seldom heard growing up. You are loved. You are appreciated. You are special. You are brilliant. You are good. You are important. You're kind. You're brave. I am so proud of you. Star for unconditional love. That man or woman says, I feel like a nobody, and I hate that feeling, and I'm going to be somebody. And I'm going to prove to everybody that I am a somebody. And if it takes long hours, if it takes seven days a week, If it costs me my health, if it costs me my marriage, if it costs me my kids, if it costs me my friendships, if it costs me my soul, I will pay that price because I can't stand feeling like a

nobody. So I will perform and I will produce and I will earn, accumulate, strive, drive, and win until I am respected, liked, appreciated, accepted, and admired. And you know what? We might end up with a few trophies in a bunch of Twitter followers, a few nice plaques on the wall of our nice house and impressive portfolio and such, but after spending our lives working the image, spending our lives playing that game, competing and comparing, we find that we never fully lived and never fully loved, and we never really knew who we were.

I think it's one of the reasons Jesus came along and asked this question. What do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but you lose your own soul? You know, someone told me years ago that failure is succeeding in things that don't really matter. And Jesus is echoing that, saying, chasing all the applause of earth may cause you to miss the applause of heaven. And that's a bad trade. And that just doesn't make sense. Jesus says, instead, seek first the kingdom of God, run after that. And if you do that, everything else, including your identity, will fall in line.

So I am just praying the day that you would stop. striving to be something that you already are accepted. Know that you are accepted and applaud it by the one who matters most. Relax in the reality of his love for you and his approval of you. I'll see you back here next time. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. standard time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.combe.com slash daily drive.