Approval Addiction - Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone by Joyce Meyer

One thing that a lot of people have is this so-called "Approval Addiction", and this is what Christian writer Joyce Meyer suggests we should fight.. You may already be suffering from the mindset that such addiction has already inflicted on you, and yet you are unaware of it. Let's say that you are already late for work so you are running. And then a complete stranger suddenly approaches you, asking you to help them with a certain problem. What do you do?

I'm pretty sure that you will stop and help this person. From one angle you can say it is a good deed, but from another it is not. Did you forget that you were already late for work? You have every valid excuse to say no to this stranger, but you still choose to help them. You can look at this situation and say that you're just being selfless. Then again, if you reassess the situation, you will see that you are actually being more selfish. Helping this person despite the fact that you are late for work means that you are doing some sacrificial act, which in turn gives you a feeling of being sensible. Plus, if you successfully help this person, you get their approval which makes you feel more great.

This is my perfect summarization of Joyce Meyer's masterpiece titled approval addiction. We are all hungry to find the fulfilling feeling of being liked by other people, even if it means that we are doing it the wrong way. We all love the feeling that we get when someone likes what we are doing, and so we strive hard to get this feeling. Then again, Meyer did call this 'addiction' if it weren't a bad thing.

The reason why we are here in the this world is to help people, but not to collect praises from them. Doing deeds as we know is indeed what God would have wanted for us. But doing good things for the sake of other people's approval is not. We may not realize it, but we spend most of our time working to get the approval of friends, family, and even random people. And while doing so, we overlook the One whose approval matters the most. We are so busy trying to please everyone that we forget about pleasing God.

Approval Addiction is a good way to wake up from the pressures of society. Does the line "learn to say no" ring a bell? Well, it's just about time that Meyer retells it. We were given our own way of thought that gives the capacity for us to make decisions on our own. Whether you are a Christian or not, Approval Addiction will teach you why you should stop upholding other's views above yours.

Checkout more Joyce Meyer Books at Christian Book Store.