Acceptance 01

Last time we looked at how we have our acceptance, security and significance in God through Jesus Christ. We also saw that we have these already, we are not waiting for them, and we do not have to strive for them.

You have already got acceptance from God through Jesus.

You have already got security from God through Jesus.

You have already got significance from God through Jesus.

This time we will start a deeper look at acceptance, well it’s the first on our list! It is also very important as we need to realise this to fully receive our security and significance.

If you do not feel loved you will not reach your full potential. Not feeling loved is a real issue for some people. If you do not feel loved or accepted by someone you will not give that person your all. Psychologists tell us that, and this time they are correct.

If we are a Christian and don’t feel loved by God then that is a far bigger issue. I think it’s the same way we are with people. If we don’t feel really loved and accepted by God are we going to give Him our all? I think not! Let me tell you that not feeling loved by God is just that, it’s a feeling not the reality!

In our home we have a constant battle over the thermostat that controls the temperature in the house. We really do have a running battle over the temperature in our house! My wife, Nunsy, will be sitting in her jumper and wrapped up in her “Giants” blanket, yet still complain about it being too cold. At the same time I’ll complain that “it’s like a sauna in here!” and wear just a pair of shorts and t-shirt.

The reality is that we are both experiencing the same temperature, yet feeling two different things. Nunsy feels cold yet I feel warm. Just because we are felling different things it doesn’t mean that the temperature is changing. The way that we feel doesn’t mean that reality has changed; the temperature is still 16.5 degC for example for both of us. The real situation is not altered; the actual truth about the temperature in the house has not changed.

It is the same idea with God’s love.

Romans 5:8 says “But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.

Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever”

These verses tell us that God loves us and He never changes. His love for us never changes, He is constant. God’s acceptance of us has never changed and it will never change.

What changes is how we feel, what changes is our perceptions. In the same way that we can feel the temperature differently we can feel God’s love differently. Just because we do not feel loved today, that doesn’t change the reality of God’s love towards us. We may feel loved more today and then less tomorrow, we have changed neither God nor the extent of His love. We change, God does not change, and Hebrews 13:8 tells us that.

We need to grasp the fact and understand that God’s acceptance of us and love towards us never changes. We know this because the Word tells us!

We need to believe what the Word tells us and not what our feelings and experiences tell us. Let’s look at some of the scriptures on our list.

I want to start with one that really stuck out to me as I was reading and meditating on the list. Remember I said these would not just be feel good messages, well this verse indeed made me feel good and it still does!

1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us that “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s”.

Paul was speaking to the believers in Corinth, telling them that they belong to God. They were bought with a price and now belong to God. The same is true for us! He is telling us exactly the same. God has purchased your life and you belong to Him. Is there any more acceptance than that?

And He didn’t just pay a few pounds for us, He paid with His Son. Jesus paid the ultimate prices so that you could belong to the Lord.

Acts 20:28 says we were purchased “with His own blood”; Hebrews 9:12 tells us Jesus did this “with His own blood” and 1 Peter 1:19 tells us we were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ”.

God’s plan of redemption always was the blood of Christ!

My mate spent over £1,200 on a watch recently, yes he did! He loves that watch and is always showing it to me. I don’t really appreciate the watch; well I didn’t pay a great price for it. He looks after it and cares for it. Yes, he loves it!

If we spend a great price on something we do not abuse it or neglect it, we care for it and love it. We appreciate it, don’t we?

How much more then will God love and appreciate us because of what He paid? Once we realise how much He paid can we ever think again that God doesn’t love or accept us? We cannot!

Do you know that it pleased God to put Jesus on the cross so that we can be redeemed? Isaiah 53:10 says “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him”. Meditate on that for a while and see how you feel!

So we have been bought, that means that we are slaves. No it does not! We have been bought into the family of God.

The Word tells us that you are a child of God and that you are a friend of Christ. How good is that? You have indeed been bought with a price, but bought to belong to the family of God.

In John 1:11-12 we are told the following – “He came unto His own and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name”.

This verse tells us we can become a child of God, and it even tells us how to do it. All we need to do is believe on Jesus.

We don’t need to pray more to become a child of God. We do not need to give more; we do not need to fast more. Yes, these are all good things to do but not in order to become a child of God. All we need to do is believe.

It doesn’t matter what you have done or are going to do. If you believe you are a child of God. It doesn’t matter how you behave, God still loves and accepts you.

It doesn’t matter how good we are, or indeed how good we are at not being bad!

This though is not a reason to go out and sin and do stupid and dangerous things. Goodness no! We don’t do crazy things as we love God, we don’t not do these things to receive His love! We already have His love and acceptance! There’s nothing we can do, other than believe on Jesus, to become a child of God.

It means we can muck up and not condemn ourselves as God won’t do that. His love and acceptance is still and will always be the same.

Ephesians 1:4-5 tells us a similar thing, in that we are “adopted” into this family through Jesus. Adoption speaks of joining a family, God’s family in this case. Again it’s through faith in Jesus that we can join this family. Again it’s nothing about what we’ve done or not done, other than believe!

You have acceptance from God through your faith in Christ Jesus. We all have this acceptance if we believe in the Lord, irrespective of what we did last night, this morning or what we are going to do in the future.

In a meeting recently a teacher spoke over one of my friends about how much God loved Him. But what she also said was “God likes you, He loves you, but He also likes you”.

I believe it’s the same for all believers. He likes you.

John 15:15 Jesus calls His disciples, and as a result us, friends. Jesus calls us friend! Faith in Jesus entitles you to be His friend. He likes you.

He doesn’t like you because you are good. He doesn’t like you because you are good at not being bad. He likes you because you have put your faith in Him.

Because of faith and trust in Jesus you are accepted by God.

Because of faith in trust in Jesus you are a child of God.

Because of faith and trust in Jesus you are called His friend.

It’s not anything you’ve done that means God accepts you. And nothing you can do will see God removing that acceptance from you. It’s all about Jesus.