Scripture
Greet Apelles, a good man whom Christ approves. Romans 10:16

Observation
Have you ever put you hand into a pants pocket and felt the little slip of paper that reads, “Inspected by Number 6″. When you put your hand into your soul what’s on the inspection slip? The best one reads, “Inspected by Christ.”

What is the Lord looking for in our quality? He wants to be certain that we have not allowed anyone to remove what he originally put into us. Apelles was a man “approved”. The Greek word is “dokimos” and with it comes an interesting story. Listen to this bit of background I found online today:

“In the ancient world there was no banking system as we know it today, and no paper money. All money was made from metal, heated until liquid, poured into moulds and allowed to cool. When the coins were cooled, it was necessary to smooth off the uneven edges. The coins were comparatively soft and of course many people shaved them closely. In one century, more than eighty laws were passed in Athens, to stop the practice of shaving down the coins then in circulation. But some money changers were men of integrity, who would accept no counterfeit money. They were men of honour who put only genuine full-weighted money into circulation. Such men were called “dokimos” or “approved”. Donald Barnhouse (Thayer and Smith. “Greek Lexicon entry for Dokimos”. “The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon”. <http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=1384&version=kjv>.)

As our lives circulate in human society there are people along the way who would like to shave off bits of our God-given character for their own selfish purposes. There is a class of people who are happy to use others to prop up their own success. They feed off of those who are insecure because of the universal desire for approval they give. These manipulative leaders are like money changers who want to carve up a person like a coin for their own ends. There are some so hungry for approval that even this jaundiced eye and crooked smile feels reassuring. The knife carves a little bit of them away and back they go into circulation less valuable than before.

Application
I don’ t want to be a coin getting lighter by the moment. I want to be a “dokimos” man who has not let anyone shave from of me the features of my Christ-minting for their own ends. I have been designed for a purpose. The approval of Christ will come when I remain consistent with who he has designed me to be. There are many who what to shave off something here or there from me to somehow make me fit their approval. But I cannot let that happen. I am approved by Christ and that is enough.

Prayer
Father today, if there is any wear on me let it be from circulation of usefulness not because I allowed some miserly, person take from me what you gave to me. Amen.