One of mankind’s deepest desires is to be accepted. Christians should champion this, but we often fail. The church should be a place of ultimate acceptance, yet the church struggled with acceptance even in ancient times.
"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you to bring praise to God." Romans 15:7. NIV
AN HONEST NEED
We know acceptance is essential, and we all want approval. We grow up longing for it, and our adult lives still need it. To be accepted is to be free of criticism and judgment, to be embraced as you are without any requirement.
JESUS' EXAMPLE
We think of acceptance as tolerance glorified. Biblical acceptance not just tolerating someone without criticism, but it is to be the same way Christ ultimately accepted us. God takes us even with all the trashy stuff we bring along. We don’t need to become saints to be accepted by God; instead, we assume that we are saints and sons. We don’t need to give up eating meat, pray for an hour a day, do penance, change our hair, or perform miracles, but when we come to God through Jesus, we are accepted based on Jesus' righteousness, not our own. Biblical acceptance is an adoption where we are welcomed with all rights and privileges to a family.
GOD'S VIEW
When God sees those who have received Jesus, He does not know the garbage of our lives; when God sees us, He sees the credited righteousness of Jesus put over us. So our reaction to another who is different should not be to see them as problems or lowlifes, but ones for whom Jesus died. God accepts us only based on receiving the gospel; as debtors to Him, we should look with the same attitude of grace to others.
OUR PRACTICE
When we see someone different in our community, we should not make that mental inventory of the differences between them and us; we should only see one thing- Jesus in that person. Forget accent, custom, tradition or clothing, taste, or lifestyle- if God accepts that person the way they are, how can we not? Are we better than God? Is it possible our standards are higher than His? If God sees that person as beautiful and worthy of the death of his Son, so should we. And if God accepts that person as His child, I insult His choice when I fail to treat that person as my own brother.
God accepts you only because of Jesus, and you can give this liberty to others who call on the Name of the same Lord. It is one of the most Christ-like things you can do.
To learn more about how to be accepted by God, follow THIS LINK.
"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you to bring praise to God." Romans 15:7. NIV
AN HONEST NEED
We know acceptance is essential, and we all want approval. We grow up longing for it, and our adult lives still need it. To be accepted is to be free of criticism and judgment, to be embraced as you are without any requirement.
JESUS' EXAMPLE
We think of acceptance as tolerance glorified. Biblical acceptance not just tolerating someone without criticism, but it is to be the same way Christ ultimately accepted us. God takes us even with all the trashy stuff we bring along. We don’t need to become saints to be accepted by God; instead, we assume that we are saints and sons. We don’t need to give up eating meat, pray for an hour a day, do penance, change our hair, or perform miracles, but when we come to God through Jesus, we are accepted based on Jesus' righteousness, not our own. Biblical acceptance is an adoption where we are welcomed with all rights and privileges to a family.
GOD'S VIEW
When God sees those who have received Jesus, He does not know the garbage of our lives; when God sees us, He sees the credited righteousness of Jesus put over us. So our reaction to another who is different should not be to see them as problems or lowlifes, but ones for whom Jesus died. God accepts us only based on receiving the gospel; as debtors to Him, we should look with the same attitude of grace to others.
OUR PRACTICE
When we see someone different in our community, we should not make that mental inventory of the differences between them and us; we should only see one thing- Jesus in that person. Forget accent, custom, tradition or clothing, taste, or lifestyle- if God accepts that person the way they are, how can we not? Are we better than God? Is it possible our standards are higher than His? If God sees that person as beautiful and worthy of the death of his Son, so should we. And if God accepts that person as His child, I insult His choice when I fail to treat that person as my own brother.
God accepts you only because of Jesus, and you can give this liberty to others who call on the Name of the same Lord. It is one of the most Christ-like things you can do.
To learn more about how to be accepted by God, follow THIS LINK.
