You Don t Need Someone s Approval to be Happy

You can be happy in life if you don t let other people control your attitude.

Few things rob your happiness faster than being criticized or feeling like others are working against you. Why? Because we all want to be loved. We all want approval. We all want people to like us.

Yet even with the negativity toward his ministry, Paul says in Philippians 1:18, It does not matter! I am happy about it just so Christ is preached in every way possible, whether from wrong or right motives. And I will continue to be happy (GNT).

You don t need other people s approval to be happy. You re as happy as you choose to be! If others are unhappy with you, that s their choice. If you haven t earned someone s approval by now, you re probably not going to get it and you re going to be miserable if you try to live for the approval of everybody else.

Paul explains in Philippians 1:29-30 why you can be happy no matter what: For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it (NLT).

Paul says it is a privilege to suffer when you re doing the right thing, because that s when you re most like Jesus.

Paraphrased from devotional by: Rick Warren