In this episode of the I Choose Today Podcast, we continue our Identity in Christ series by exploring a truth many of us struggle to fully live from:

There is a difference between being accepted and seeking approval.

Approval is performance-based.

Acceptance is position-based.

Many of us say we believe we are saved by grace, yet we quietly live as though we must continue proving our worth—to God, to others, and even to ourselves.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The subtle ways approval-seeking shapes our spiritual lives

• How performance can masquerade as devotion

• The difference between laboring for worth and living from worth

• What it means to be accepted “in the Beloved”

• Union with Christ and why our acceptance is positional, not probationary

• Adoption as identity, not achievement

• How living accepted changes the way we work, serve, and obey

Mo shares part of her personal journey of striving for approval through academic and career achievement, and how God used a quiet “in-between” season to heal her heart and re-anchor her identity in being His beloved daughter.

Scripture references include:

Ephesians 1:6

Romans 5:1–2

Romans 8:15

John 1:12

Matthew 3:17

Today’s Step:

Notice where you are still trying to prove something. Pause and ask God, “Am I living from acceptance, or striving for approval?” Then choose one small act of obedience this week that flows from gratitude, not pressure.

Ending Takeaway:

You are not working to be accepted.

You are living from acceptance.

Your value was set at the cross.