Our church we helped start when we moved overseas had a business meeting recently to discuss working towards being able to pay a pastor. Part of the discussion included giving my husband, the pastor, a very small stipend to help with our support. We were absent from this part of the meeting to allow the members full freedom of discussion, and when it came to a vote, a few voted against it. Even though it was a few, I was hurt. I questioned our ministry and felt unappreciated. I wondered what we had done to merit their disapproval.

As global workers, our lives are often scrutinized from many different angles, and we find ourselves weighing people’s opinions and views of us as we live and minister. We think about our supporters and how they would measure our success. We want our host culture to approve of the way we adapt to their lifestyles. We hope our teammates like us and think we are good at what we do. Our value and worth suddenly become defined by the approval of others.

“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”
Galatians 1:10

Paul reminds us in Galatians that our goal and priority in life is to seek God’s approval. We should tune our hearts to His purposes because we are his masterpieces created to do the good things he planned for us (Ephesians 2:10). Living for God will not always please other people. We can be sure that our choices might actually disappoint people around us, but this should not cause us to despair. Our value and worth are found in the payment of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. We should run to our Father and let His words pour over our hearts and minds assuring us of his approval. After all, it is his work we have been called to do (1 Thessalonians 2:4).

“The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
Psalm 118:6