I think we can all relate. I can relate, especially as a new believer, you know, coming from a world

where everything was performance-based acceptance for me. I grew up with that sort of background of

you perform well, you're accepted, you're loved, you're hailed. And I've shared the story with you guys

before when I stopped feeling the love at that church where I was in the youth group, I was going to leave.

And it was all about what I was getting from people, you know.

And so this is an important topic, I think, for us to hit.

And I think it's important, first of all, for us to begin by talking about what it is that compels us in that direction.

Why is it that we're so tied up with what man thinks of us?

You guys heard the saying, right?

We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.

Now, obviously, as Christians, we love everybody.

But that has...

Most.

That has a ring of truth to it, you know.

So, yeah, let's jump into it.

You went right to the core heart issue.

And it was Luther that pointed out that all of our sins are rooted in like

these three or four main sins, which are all idolatrous in nature. And one of those three or four

sins is the need for approval or the praise of men. And so I think you're right, man. Inerrant in every single one of us is this

incessant, diabolical need for approval. And that actual, our actual desire for approval is rooted in

wanting to be reconnected with God. But because we are falling, we distort that desire and instead seek the approval of men.

And so we do that. And it's, I think the approval men is a drug. It's a drug because you,

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