Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
John 6:37-38 CSB
Last week, we looked at how God says in Christ we are:
As I continue to meditate on our identity in Christ and on our culture’s near obsession with identity, I would be remiss if I did not take some time to consider another that also comes up when considering identity:
Accepted.
To be accepted…
Who doesn’t want to be accepted?
Goodness, that’s all this gal wanted to be in her awkward preteen years when she couldn’t see past her glasses, braces, and boyish height.
In truth, being accepted is still pretty high on the list for this gal today. It just feels good to be accepted, to know that others see your value and want you around.
And sweet friend, God tells us in His word that all who come to Jesus Christ are accepted because He has sent them to Jesus in the first place (John 6:37-38).
Let me say that again more personally – if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today, it’s because God pursued you intentionally, invited you personally to know His Son.
Dear heart, you can’t get more accepted than that. God said “Yes” to you before you ever even knew to ask Him to save your soul. He invited you to know Him and inspired you to ask for salvation because He had already accepted you (John 15:16; Ephesians 1:4; Romans 5:8)!
But Brothers and Sisters, there is so much more to God’s acceptance than simply being welcomed as you are.
You see, the world’s idea of acceptance is to live and let live, to give no reproof for negative attitudes or actions, to not even hint that someone could improve in any way. In fact, if you do suggest that someone could have more joy, more peace, more fruitful living, if they grew or changed in some way, then suddenly the world says that you are not accepting, that you are…intolerant.
But God – man I love those words – God has a perfect understanding of what it means to accept someone because God is perfect. When God accepts us, He takes responsibility for us and for our well-being. Remember 1 Peter 2:9?
God accepts us as His own possession, His chosen race, a royal priesthood, and He takes care of what is His.
You may have heard it said like this:
“God accepts us as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way.”
The term we use most often for this is “sanctification”.
I’d like to pause here and leave you with some verses to meditate on. Then, tomorrow we’ll pick back up here with what God calling us “accepted” means for our identity in Christ.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23
- John 17:17
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13
- Romans 6:6
- Hebrews 9:14 and 12:10
I hope to see you tomorrow, friend.
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