True Acceptance

4Him From Me Blog: True Acceptance:
by Jeff Lay

As people we want to be accepted. Whether it’s our ideals, who we are as people, or the clothes we wear, there is something inside us all that longs to belong. The old saying, “Birds of a feather flock together” is a perfect example of the truth of this. When society as a whole rejects us; we seek others like us so that we feel less alone.

Acceptance is defined in this way: the act of accepting something or someone or the quality or state of being accepted or acceptable. We spend a lifetime rejecting people and things that fail to fit our mold or standard. There simply isn’t time to waste on those who don’t look or think like us. We spend even more energy trying to gain acceptance ourselves. It may be through our job performance, where we live, our behaviors, or the way we dress, but on some level we all seek it; never fully grasping that the things of this world are constantly being shaken (Hebrews 12:27) and scattered so they we may come to the truth that we are already accepted in Jesus Christ.

While the wounds of rejection scar us from childhood, through our time as adults, to the grave; God has loved us unconditionally through the sacrifice of His son who died for the sins of this world. I’ve seen countless people wounded and bleeding from broken relationships with their parents. Many feel the pain of economic disadvantage and their exclusion because they couldn’t afford to wear the right clothes. But in Jesus Christ we are joined to our true Father and reconciled to God. We are clothed in righteous, not by our performance, but by the blood that was shed for our sins. Isaiah 61:10 says, “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness”. God has not done this because we have looked or acted in a certain way. It is merely to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Jesus (Ephesians 1:6).

So stop striving for the acceptance of those around you... read more here