I Choose Today to Live Accepted, Not Approved

This week on the I Choose Today Podcast, we continued our Identity in Christ series by talking about something many of us don’t realize we’re still carrying, the need for approval.

There was a season in my life when I believed I needed to prove my value. I accelerated my four-year degree into eighteen months. I earned difficult certifications. I pursued a master’s degree because I thought it would show I had what it took to excel in my field.

From the outside, it looked focused and driven. But underneath it all was a quiet question that never seemed to go away: Am I enough yet?

I remember asking God why I felt so unsettled despite the achievements. And gently, He showed me the truth. My motivation was off. I wasn’t pursuing excellence from confidence, I was chasing validation. I was not building worth. I was trying to prove it.

What I didn’t yet understand was the difference between approval and acceptance.

Approval is performance-based. It fluctuates. It increases when we succeed and decreases when we fail. Approval is earned.

Acceptance, on the other hand, is positional. It is given.

Scripture says we are “accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). That phrase matters. It means our acceptance is not rooted in our behavior, but in our union with Christ. When the Father looks at the Son, He says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And when we belong to Christ, we are brought into that same standing, not because we performed like Jesus, but because we are united to Him.

Romans tells us we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Notice that word: stand. Not visit. Not apply for. Stand.

Our acceptance is not probationary.

It is a covenant.

And it goes even deeper. We are not just forgiven. We are adopted. Romans 8 says we received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” Adoption is not approval. Adoption is belonging.

A child does not wake up every morning trying to earn their last name. They may grow. They may mature. They may even fail. But their identity in the family does not fluctuate with performance.

In Christ, your spiritual last name does not change when you struggle.

Many of us, however, still live like we’re on probation with God. We serve harder when we feel distant. We try more when we feel behind. We subtly turn obedience into proof.

But living accepted changes everything.

Obedience becomes response instead of pressure. Work becomes stewardship instead of self-definition. Service becomes overflow instead of validation.

The year after God called me to step away from my career was an “in-between” year. It was quiet. It was hidden. And it was healing. That was the year He untangled my identity from my achievements. That was the year I realized my value had already been set by Christ.

Not by my résumé.

Not by my performance.

Not by how much I accomplished.

By Him.

You are not working to be accepted.

You are living from acceptance.

And when that truth settles into your heart, you stop asking, “Am I enough yet?” and begin resting in, “I already belong.”