Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You an Approval Addict? | The Gospels | John 5:31-47

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

Whose approval are you living for? What would change if God's opinion mattered more than anyone else's? And what can we learn from the people who believed in Jesus but were afraid to admit it? In today's episode, Keith shares how John 5:31-47 reveals the danger of living for the praise of people instead of the praise of God. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: John 5:31-47

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I'm an addict, and I have a suspicion that you're one too. Now, the addiction I'm talking about has nothing to do with substance abuse. It is legal and safe to your body, even if it's dangerous to your soul. And as far as I know, there are no 12-step groups to help people fight this addiction, no Betty Ford treatment, sent her to escape from it. But like every other addiction, this one provides a thrill, a rush that keeps people coming back for more. I'm talking about the addiction to approval. I'm an approval addict. I care too much about what people think. There are times, if I'm really honest, many times that I care more about what people think than what God thinks. That addiction shows up twice in the Gospel of John. Once is in John chapter 5.

Jesus says, how can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? Jesus confronts us by asking us a question that's not really a question. I mean, formerly we would call this a rhetorical question. Rhetorical questions function more like statements. What Jesus is really saying is you can't have faith in him if you prefer the praise of people more than the praise of God. Jesus makes some incredible claims about himself in the Gospel of John. He says, I am who I am. In other words, I am God. I am the light of the world. I am the resurrection and the life.

And some people hear those claims and they respond in faith and they begin to follow them, but a lot don't. And if you ask those people, why don't you follow Jesus? They might say, well, he didn't give me enough evidence for his claims, or I don't really need a crutch, or I'm more sophisticated than that. In other words, they're going to explain their unbelief in a way that makes them look savvy and smart. But Jesus says that's not the whole story behind their lack of faith. There's more to their unbelief than perhaps they even realize.

He says, you don't believe in me because you love the praise of others. You love being recognized by people you respect. Jesus says that if you care more about what others think of you than what God thinks of you, your faith will be weak. Approval addiction will keep you from following Jesus. So as Jesus' ministry continues, some of his most hardened antagonists, his most difficult critics, some of them start to believe that he really is who he claimed to be, like he really is the promised Messiah sent from God. And so if they see that he is the Messiah, I'm sure then that they begin to follow him and become one of his disciples, right?

No. Why? Why do some people not follow Jesus, even if they see who he is? Well, that takes us to John chapter 12, and the second time, approval addiction is mentioned in this gospel. Verse 42, yet at the same time, many, even among the leaders, believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. Do you hear that? They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. they didn't want to publicly identify as a follower of Jesus, not because they had intellectual doubts, but because their desire for people's approval exceeded their desire for God's approval.

These leaders, they are a lot like us. They were determined to be on the inside of the most important group they could find. They wanted to be, as Hamilton says, in the room where it happens. They didn't want to be rejected. They didn't want to be known as Christians because they were afraid that people would think they were weird or maybe not as much fun or judgmental or, you know, on the wrong side of history. Do we love the praise of other people more than the praise of God? Paul frames the issue this way in Galatians 110. He says, am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Do you see how Paul says there's a fork in every person's road? You choose to please

Christ or you choose to please other people, but you can't do both at the same time. One will always give way to the other. It's like when Jesus says you cannot serve both God and money. Well, here now, Paul says, you can't live for both the praise of people and the praise of God. But we crave the praise of people, because we find it validating like it makes us feel good about ourselves when people accept us. And when they reject us or make fun of us or ignore us, have nothing to do with us, man, that really hurts. When our identity is wrapped up in whether we are perceived as successful or likable, we're going to be approval addicts because our self-identity is on the line.

Approval addicts conform to the expectations of people they respect. So if being busy is important, then they will all tell you how much they've been up to. If having money defines who's winning in life, then they will make sure that they live in the right places and drive the right cars. If knowing the right people proves my importance, then I will make sure that I hang out with the cool kids and let you know about it. I'll probably be a name dropper. What matters is how I am perceived by the people I respect. And this addiction, this approval addiction, is horrible. Many people are affected by it.

Because when I'm an approval addict, I am always vulnerable to other people's opinions about me. So my life is a continual emotional roller coaster. When people like me, I'm up and when not I'm down. So let me give you a few symptoms of approval addiction so you can identify if maybe you are an addict like me. If you can't take constructive criticism without becoming defensive, you might be addicted to approval. If you compare yourself to other people, if you get competitive and feel like you need to beat other people to be number one, you're probably addicted to approval. If you find yourself getting envious of other people's successes, you're probably addicted to approval. If you ever find yourself

trying to impress other people and doing a subtle kind of boasting, I think they call it the humble brag, you know, the kind of bragging where it doesn't really sound like you're bragging and yet somehow people walk away more impressed with you, well, if that's you, you're probably addicted to approval. If you find yourself wondering, what do other people think about me? It's probably because you're addicted to approval. Are you overcommitted because you find it hard to say no even when you know you should say no? Do you second-guess decisions you make because you're wondering what other people are going to think about your decision? Are you hesitant to pray out loud in a group because you think you'll sound dumb?

Living for the approval of others is so much part of our life that I think we all struggle with this addiction. And the reason we struggle with it is because we believe that people's after people's after information and acceptance will make us be acceptable people. Like it'll help us feel good about ourselves. The guy named Ed Welch has a book on this topic. It's called When People Are Big and God is Small. And it's a great title because it clarifies the core issue. When we live for human approval and make no effort to obtain the praise from God,

what we're doing is making people big and God small. We're exalting the opinion of others to a place that only God deserves. And Jesus is saying that that that kind of heart will not believe the promises of God. That's the kind of heart that will never find true fulfillment in Christ, find their satisfaction in Jesus. When we make people big and God small, we'll never find the kind of life Jesus promises to those who believe in him. We'll never be able to serve him or do hard things because we value other people's opinion more than his. And the reality is that in my life and in your life, there's always this tug-a-war going on, like pulling in one direction is the praise of people and pulling the other direction is the praise of God.

And every day, you and I have to decide who are we going to live for? Whose approval do we want most? Our neighbor, our parents, our kids, our boss, our friend, or gods? Until we answer that question, we're never really making much progress in our faith. Jesus didn't please everyone. No matter how kind he was, people attacked him. They accused him of being a drunkard. They said he was demon possessed.

They crucified him. one of my seminary professors a long time ago told a story about a young violinist who lived in London. He was a superb musician, but he was so afraid of playing in front of large crowds. So he rarely ever gave concerts. But after enduring criticism for his unwillingness to give concerts, he finally agreed to perform in the largest concert hall in London. So the young violinist comes on stage and he sits alone there on a stool and he puts his violin under his chin. and he played for an hour. No music in front of him, no orchestra behind him,

no breaks, just an hour of beautiful, amazing, excellent violin music. He was so good that after a while, many of the critics just put down their pen and their notebooks and they just listened like a person in the audience. After the performance, the crowd rose to his feet and plodded wildly. They just wouldn't stop. But the young violinist, he didn't acknowledge the applause.

He just peered out in the audience as if he were looking for something or looking for someone. Finally, he found what he was looking for. A relief comes over his face, and he begins to acknowledge the cheers. After the concert, the critics met the young violinist backstage, and they said, you were wonderful, but one question, why did it take you so long to acknowledge the applause of the audience? And the young violinist took a deep breath and answered, Tonight, just before I came on stage, I received word that my master teacher was going to be in the audience. After I finished playing, I started to search for him. I was so eager to find

find my teacher that I couldn't even really hear the applause, I just had to know what he thought of my playing. That's what really mattered. Finally, I found him high in the balcony. He was standing and applauding with a big smile on his face. After seeing him, I was finally able to relax and I said to myself, if the master is pleased with what I have done, then everything else is okay. Let's pray. Father, I pray that we would live for the approval, for the applause of Jesus. And if we have your approval, if you're smiling at us, if you're happy, if you're pleased with our life, with our choices, with our attitudes, with our words, then nothing else matter. We make it our ambition to live for Christ. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.