True Validation and Freedom From Living an Apologetic Life

A couple of years ago I was asked to be a "spiritual consultant" in an ongoing way to a working group of about eight people. The only problem was, I wasn't invited by the people in the working group--I was invited by someone who was overseeing them.

I knew some of these people, didn't know most of them, and I wasn't sure they wanted any of my "help." I was nervous that I'd be perceived as a giant waste of their time. I was talking this over with a friend of mine the week of my first meeting with them.

"Well," he said, "if you go in feeling apologetic for your presence, you'll be completely useless to anyone and it will be a giant waste of everyone's time."

"But," he continued, "I think you've got something to offer them. And if you can go in not seeking validation from them, not apologizing for what you've been invited to go and do, then you could actually be a blessing to them.

"And what this means is that you've got to be able to stand validated by the Lord in front of these people, apart from their approval. Approval might not come from them. And it shouldn't have to. It would seem that God has invited you here. So don't apologize for that calling.

"Instead go in to serve them, regardless of what they're attitude is towards you-- because you genuinely care about God's work among these people and because you absolutely don't need anything from them. You have been validated already by God. What more do you need? You are now free to bless them apart from their opinion of you."

Of course, secular humanists would insist that we simply approve and validate ourselves. This is utter foolishness. From birth to grave, we are hard-wired to seek approval from something/someone outside ourselves. We were meant to find it in our Good Father. Instead, we seek approval and validation in one another, or in our resumes or GPA's or conquests or exploits or, or, or....

But the words of my friend re-centered me on the True Source of my ultimate validation. I am free to be who and where I am not because I'm so worth everyone's approval but because I have been approved already. And that, by the God of the universe.

And so, I am free. Free from living an apologetic life, always trying to prove my worth or validate my existence.

And that freedom is what gives me the strong center from which I can live a life like Jesus did: not to be served by others (including and especially by manipulating them for their approval in order to prop myself up) but to serve, bless, honor and love others---even to consider them before myself.