Accepted.
We should not live our
natural lives based on feelings because feelings fluctuate based on
circumstances and will take us on a roller-coaster ride of highs and
lows to where we will be controlled by the highs and lows we experience
in living our daily lives.
Neither should we live our spiritual lives based on
whether or not we feel accepted or don't feel accepted by God because
feelings are not a good gauge to base God's acceptance of us on. In
Hosea 4:6 God's people were perishing because of a lack of knowledge,
God's people today are questioning their acceptance by God because of
lack of knowledge therefore, are jumping through religious hoops to be
accepted by religion believing also that this pleases God and He will
accept them. The knowledge we must imprint on our heart and mind is the
fact that we ARE accepted by God whether we feel like we are or not.
Paul had no reservations about his acceptance by the Lord, Philippians 3:8-10 says:
"More
than that I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of
all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived
from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith that I may know
him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being conformed to his death."
As believers we need to quit striving to be accepted
by God because we are already accepted by Him and nothing we can do or
not do will make us more or less acceptable to Him. If we would but rest
in the assurance of our relationship with Him we would know Him more
fully, than depending on what we are told about Him by denominated
people. When we realize we are completely accepted by God and loved by
Him because we are in Christ, and concentrate our energies on knowing
God rather than learning about God, we WILL know His WILL.
Believers spend much time and energy seeking the
"will of God" as if it were some instruction to find. When we rest in
the knowing that are accepted by God, graced by God, forgiven by God and
loved by God, His will becomes natural for us in the living of our
everyday lives...not by some specific or special task He wants us to
perform.
While we must know we are totally accepted in
Christ. We must also know the call of God is clear from Genesis to
Revelation. That call is holiness unto the Lord. The Apostle Peter
writes in 1 Peter 1:14-16: As obedient children, not conforming
yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who
called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is
written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
If we are indeed saved by grace and not by works and
Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourself: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man
should boast."...then, why must we strive to live holy lives by keeping a
bunch of religious rules and adhering to religious constitutions and
bylaws? The religionists say, well if God saved me the least I can do is
try to live holy; or one might say we are to be holy because we love
God and He commands that we are to live holy. All of these reasons are
scriptural and call us to holy living; but religious foolishness has
caused many to feel unaccepted and people feel they must live holy
because it is a command, or to prove to God we love him, and when we
slip in our holiness and fall into sinning, we feel unaccepted because
we have been taught to base our acceptance on our feeling of holiness.
The Holy Spirit was sent to reveal Jesus and the
Father to us. Jesus said in John 15:26 that the Holy Spirit would
testify of Him. If we are to learn more about God, learn more of His
nature, His love. Then God can be revealed in us and therefore through
us as the Community of the Redeemed and to those around us in the
Community of Humanity.
Rest assured you are accepted in Christ. Know this
fact in your spirit, then you will accept rather than reject others. We
can accept others only to the degree that we realize we realize we are
accepted. Once we live knowing we are accepted by God, we will accept
others, even with their quirks, their ways, and the things about then
that is not a witness to godliness.
If you are a believer you are "accepted in the Beloved!" Don't forget that.
You say and I quote: As believers we need to quit striving to be accepted by God because we are already accepted by Him and nothing we can do or not do will make us more or less acceptable to Him.
ReplyDeleteIt is true we are accepted by Christ as far as our salvation is concerned, it is secure. But we have to be accepted by Him for our works. We won`t know if our works are acceptable untill we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Here is what Paul says in 2 Cor.5:
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Here is what Paul says in 1 Cor. 3:
13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
You say and I quote: Believers spend much time and energy seeking the "will of God" as if it were some instruction to find. When we rest in the knowing that are accepted by God, graced by God, forgiven by God and loved by God, His will becomes natural for us in the living of our everyday lives...not by some specific or special task He wants us to perform.
But this is not what Paul said. God`s will doesn`t come automatially. Here is what Paul says we must do to find the will of God in Rom. 12:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
These are steps that we must take: present our bodies to Him, not to be conformed to world, be transformed and renew our minds.