Joel Osteen - Approval Addiction

I want to talk today about Approval Addiction. Too many people make decisions based on what other people will think about them. They run everything through a filter: how's this going to make me look? How will my friends and coworkers perceive me? Will they be impressed? Will they applaud? Or will they look down, will they think less of me? Instead of being confident in who God made them to be, they let the opinion of others determine what they do. They don't realize they're addicted to approval. Psychologists call this FOPO. F-O-P-O: Fear of Other People's Opinions.

And yes, we all want approval, we all want to be liked, but you can't become dependent on what other people think about you. Everyone is not going to understand you. Everyone won't celebrate you. There will be seasons where people are for you, giving you approval, then times when they're not. If you have that filter, "I have to keep pleasing them. I need them to approve me to feel good about myself", then you're letting them be in charge of who you are. But your destiny is not predicated on other people's opinion of you. Whether they like you, approve you, does not stop God's purpose for your life.