Episode 72: God’s Infinite Approval of You

One of the default thoughts our brain gives us is that God is disappointed in us and the way we are living our life. It likes to point out that he has taught us better, that he expects more, and that we keep falling short. But, not only is this thought untrue, it is also keeping us more disconnected from God.

The truth is that God cannot be disappointed in us and we are always learning and growing in the exact ways we need to. And he created this earthly learning experience that not only allowed for mistakes, but which acknowledges the necessity of making them. When we really understand God’s infinite approval of us, even with our faults, our relationship with ourselves and with God will change.

One of the most common default thoughts our brain gives us is that God is disappointed in us and the way we are living our life.  And if you can change one thought among all the thoughts your brain gives you, I think this is one of the most powerful ones you can choose to change.

How to Change Your Thoughts

1.  Determine if the thought is serving you.  What result is the thought creating for you?  Ask yourself:  When I think this thought, how do I feel?  When I feel this way, what do I do?  What result do these actions create?  
2.  If you decide the thought is not serving you, then it’s time to question the thought.  Ask yourself, is it even true?  Why did my brain choose this thought?  Question the assumptions that are underneath the thought.  What else do I know for sure?  Who would I be without this thought?
3. Once you can show your brain that the thought is optional and not actually true, then you ask yourself what you want to believe instead.

Other Ways to Think about God’s Infinite Approval

1. God cannot be disappointed - We feel disappointed when we think things are going to go one way and then they go another.  Disappointment is always created when there is a disparity between what is and what we expected.  

But God always knows how things are going to go.  He is never surprised by things.  He is never shocked that it’s going the way it is because he always knows how it’s going to go.  He knows everything from the beginning from the end.  He never has expectations that are different than reality and so he can never be disappointed.  

2.  We’re doing it wrong but God is not upset by this - We assume that if God has laws that that means he expects us to obey the law and that he is upset when we don’t.  But again, I think we’re wrong about God’s expectations being different than what is.  And I think you can see that when you look at the plan itself.  

At the heart of God’s plan was the need for a Savior.  Not because God needed a failsafe in case we messed up the plan, but because that was the plan.  It is a plan of redemption, not a plan of perfection.  Of course you will mess up.  Of course you will fall short and break the laws.  That is how you will learn.  There is no other way to learn. 

3.  All of us feel a sense of insecurity and “not enoughness,” but this is not how God sees us – Because we are separated from God we feel an permanent insecurity.  In an effort to find security our brain keeps telling us that we feel this way because God is disappointed in us.  But this thought is actually makes us feel less secure and increasing the separation.  

This “not enoughness” is not created by God’s actual disappointment. It is only created by our brains in response to the disparity we feel between having once lived with God and now being here on earth, separated from him.

4.  God views us with infinite approval for where we are and he also believes in our infinite ability to change and progress - There is never any condemnation for where we are.  There is never disappointment for what we should have been.  That is never how God sees us.

His love is unchanging.  Nothing you do can disappoint him.  It is impossible.  Because of who he is.  And nothing you do is beyond God’s grace.  That is what makes the plan so incredible.  It is a perfectly designed learning experience in which messing up is not only the expectation, it is the way it was designed to be.

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Byron Katie

Catherine Thomas, “The Doer of Our Deeds and the Speaker of Our Words.”

“As we came to earth, separated from the presence of heavenly parents, we died spiritually and, in a sense, we were “orphaned.” And now, with memory veiled, and much reduced from our premortal estate—somewhat as aliens in a world that is inimical to our spiritual natures—we may carry an insecurity, a self-pain that pervades much of our emotional life. Like Adam and Eve, we feel our self-consciousness or spiritual nakedness. The scriptures teach about this nakedness as a feeling of guilt or shame.  Do we have a sense of loss from deeply buried memories of who we once were in contrast with who we are now? But here is my main question: Is it possible that in our efforts to find security, we have fallen into a number of errors? Is it possible that we have created the whole issue of self-esteem in an attempt to soothe this fallen, homesick self?”

Temples

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