Acceptance...

Acceptance, what does it mean?  


To some it will mean being part of a family or a group of friends, to others it will mean knowing we are loved.  But what if, even when we know that others love us and accept us, we still feel unworthy. What if, no matter how hard we try, we can't help but value ourselves by what we can do or can't, and what our talents are or aren't?  The world seems to base our worth on what we are good at, what we have to give, how we look and come across in social situations.  How can we reach this great standard of perfection?

Maybe it's to do with the way we've been brought up, mindsets of striving to be better at things to be more appreciated.  Perhaps we are more concerned about how many people comment on or 'like' our facebook statuses than who we are as people.

But there is a truth greater than this task of trying so hard to be accepted.  


In Ephesians 2 v 8 - 10 Paul says:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" (great stuff eh?) 


and then it continues to say (I love this bit) :


"For we are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do"

I find this so interesting because we are told that it's "not by works" and yet a few verses later we read we have been "created in Christ Jesus to do good works"; but here is the beautiful thing - it's almost as if when we try to achieve a certain status through works, it is unattainable; only God through Jesus Christ, can give us that status of acceptance, THEN as a result of this and out of joy, we realize we have been "created in Christ Jesus to do good works", and these are the only works we have been asked to do.  Not works FOR acceptance, but works FROM acceptance.  It all comes out of an overflow of our relationship to God.

I believe that it's only when we truly begin to grasp who we are in Christ that we can accept ourselves, because we are not basing our value on what we have done, but on what He has done.

When we get to know God, and the truth of His word begins to saturate us, we discover who we really are.  You can discover that although you may have been given great talents and abilities, it's YOU that God loves.  Just you, for who you are, not for what you've done or can do, but because He loves you, because He just DOES.  Because God IS love.  So here is the challenge...can you accept what God says about you?  If you will accept God and what He says about you, you can learn to be able to accept yourself.  Then realizing who you are in Christ, gain a new perspective of the right kind of works; not works for acceptance but works out of gratitude.

God loves you.  He accepts you.  You are his workmanship.

(I'm not saying I've got all this sorted by the way, I'm just throwing some thoughts out there :-) )