I know, I know, I get stuck on things easily. But my pastor taught me a very important lesson a long time ago when he told me, "Preach it until your heart is empty on it." And this idea of acceptance is still heavy on my heart. I think it's so important. Important to the people we accept--because only by letting people come as they are will we get people to stop running FROM God and start running TO Him--and important to us doing the accepting--because changing people is impossible and the more we try to change people the more frustrated we get when they don't live up to our expectations. So what I want to do for the next few days is look at what is, in my opinion, the best way TO accept people. The best way to accept people is simply this: Instead of condemning them for who they aren't, affirm them for who they are. 2 Corinthians 3:9 in the Message Bible says it like this, "If the Government of Condemnation was impressive, how about this Government of Affirmation?"  Two governments. Two covenants. The Old (which has passed away) and the New (which is abundant, everlasting, and eternal). "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). Did you catch that? We are able ministers of the NEW TESTAMENT. Able ministers of the Government of Affirmation. There is no condemnation in Christ. Because the Government of Condemnation was fulfilled on the cross. Every demand of the Law that we could not live up to--that impossibly high standard of "holiness" that usually just means preaching our particular culture and trying to get people to fit into our particular box--was fulfilled on the cross by Jesus. We couldn't do it, so He did it both for us and as us. He brought us out of the Old and into the New. So that we might walk in newness of life. So that we might know (and believe) that we are accepted... and so that we might accept each other. So that we might stop condemning (ourselves and each other) and start affirming (ourselves and each other)! If we celebrated our differences instead of trying to squash them, we would all get along a lot better. Another pastor friend of mine always says, "Major in the majors and minor in the minors." Don't make mountains out of molehills. If something isn't worth your time, talent, and treasure... don't bother with it. But don't think it's your job to "fix it" either. And listen, I'm not saying you have to be a doormat. You don't have to let people walk all over you. Meekness isn't weakness. All I'm saying is, if something's not for you... fine. Don't engage in it. But just because it's not for you doesn't mean you need to squash it. I can't draw a stick figure with a ruler. That kind of art isn't for me. But that doesn't mean I attack artists. It simply means I stick to writing instead of trying to draw. And while I'm at it I CELEBRATE artists. Because I'm kind of in awe of how they can get the picture in their heads onto the paper. It's different... but different can be good. If we don't attack it. If we accept it.

Here's what we seem to think: "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door..." (Genesis 4:7). And, clearly, this is in the Bible. But it's in the OLD TESTAMENT of the Bible. And you almost have to read the Bible backwards in a lot of cases. You have to read the Old in light of the New. You can't read the New in light of the Old. Because on the cross, when Jesus finished the work, He fulfilled the Old Covenant. He brought us out of that covenant and into a completely different covenant. So when we see acceptance based on works, we have to understand that that is the very lie that the serpent hissed in Eve's ear! The serpent told Eve that she had to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in order to be like good. She had to perform. She had to DO in order to BE. When we know that Adam and Eve were made in the image of God. They were already like God, they just didn't know it, because they didn't know what He like, and they didn't know what they were like. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). It was one way, then the cross happened, now it's a new way. Now we don't earn self-righteousness (which is as filthy rags) but we know that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! Now we can look in the mirror with an open face--with the stone of the Law, or the government of condemnation, taken out of the way--and we can see clearly. We can see who we really are, by seeing who He really is. We see the glory and we BE the glory. Because what you behold is what you become. What you magnify is what manifests in your life. It's not, "I'll accept you, but only if you jump through all these hoops and prove that you're good enough." That's not how God deals with us, and that's not how we should deal with each other. It's, "I accept you because I love you." Period. Logan and I watch a cartoon called Daniel Tiger and one of his songs goes like this, "I like you... I like you... just the way you are." Another one goes like this, "It's YOU I like, NOT the things you do." Basically it's the best show ever. And it's an accurate representation of Daddy's heart. He didn't come to change us, He came to reveal Himself to us. He came to show us who He really is (and show us who we really are) by conforming us to the image of His Son. The image that we were made in in the first place! We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Daddy doesn't make mistakes, and He doesn't make crap. He made you exactly the way He wanted you to be. And trying to change (which, really, is impossible anyway) will never lead to anything except frustration. If you're not ok with who you are then you'll never be ok. Because you can't be anybody except who you are. The trick, so to speak, is letting Jesus be who HE is in you and through you and as you. Presenting your body as a living sacrifice. Not trying to change, and not trying to get others to change. Accepting yourself, and accepting others. Because you ARE accepted in the beloved. And so are they. Don't try to change. See the truth, and BE the truth!

If you need to change someone in order to love them, then you don't really love THEM at all. You love the idea of who you think they should be. And, tragically, I think this is why so many of us are not happy with ourselves. We have this idea of who we're supposed to be, and yet we never seem to live up to it. We have this idea of what a "good Christian" or even just a "good person" is supposed to be. And when we judge ourselves against this perfect standard we always fall short. We're never good enough. We're never acceptable. And if we don't feel acceptable then we certainly don't feel accepted. I think self-condemnation is the worst kind of condemnation. Because in order to love others we must first love ourselves. We must first know (and believe) that we ARE loved by our heavenly Father. But when we judge ourselves by this impossible standard, and when we think we have to earn Daddy's love... we're setting ourselves up for failure. Listen: You can't earn a gift. And the GIFT of God is eternal life. Eternal life is knowing the Father and the One who He sent. Eternal life is living in the context of Sonship. Living out of the revelation knowledge that we are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Knowing (and believing) that we are loved (accepted) and receiving and releasing that love (and acceptance). Presenting our bodies to the Lord as a living sacrifice and letting Him do whatever He wants to do in us, and through us, and as us. That's how we be transformed--into what we've already been transformed into--and that's how we renew our minds. Not by trying to think Godly thoughts... but by letting God think His own thoughts in us. Not by trying to change, but by seeing the change that took place on the cross. Not by condemning ourselves, "I'm just a sinner," but by understand that He became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him! Not judging according to appearance, but judging righteous judgment. Executing judgment! Not by telling people what to do, but by telling people who they are! Not by trying to get people to change, but by accepting people unconditionally. And listen, I know that kind of acceptance can be hard. Because people are going to do what they're going to do. You really can't stop them. So they might do things that upset you. But on the other hand, that kind of acceptance is freeing. Because people are going to do what they're going to do. And if you aren't trying to change them then you don't need to get upset when they won't change. If you aren't putting a standard on them (that they can't live up to anyway) then you won't be mad when they don't live up to it. Instead of unrealistic expectations... you can have relationship. Instead of being frustrated, you can have peace. You can take people as they are, let them be who they are, and love them just the way they are. And you can treat YOURSELF the same way. You can start to be comfortable in your own skin. Which is so important... because it's the only skin you've got!

If someone has to change before you accept them... you really haven't accepted THEM at all. And that's the problem I have with the idea that, "God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way." Either we're accepted in the Beloved, or we're not. Either He loves us just the way we are... or He doesn't. Now watch this: Our key verse for this Rant series is Romans 12:2. But today I want to back up a verse and look at Romans 12:1. Because I think, in a very real way, verse one shows us HOW to be not conformed to this world. HOW to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. "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." Now we already talked about how if Paul is beseeching us to not conform to this world, it's because we've already been translated OUT of this world--out of the power of darkness--and into the Kingdom of God's dear Son. It isn't, "Get out of the world." It's, "You're already out. Don't go back." And, again, I think verse one of Romans chapter twelve tells us HOW to be transformed (into what we've already been transformed into). By the mercies of God we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. That's it. We stop trying to be someone we're not and we simply rest in Him. We simply let Him be Himself in us, and through us, and as us. Let our hands be His hands. Let our mouth be His mouth. Let what's inside of us (LOVE!) come out of us. And I always like to point out that Paul doesn't say this is a hard thing to do. He doesn't say it's a burden. He says it's our reasonable service. Which, I believe, is kind of the same thing John is saying in his letters. Specifically in 1 John 4:11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." And 1 John 3:16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Receive it and release it. That's the New Commandment right there: Love one another as Jesus loves you. NOT love one another as much as you think they deserve. NOT love one another as long as they're willing to conform to your idea of who they should be. Love one another as you are loved by God. Let God fill you up, and then let it overflow naturally from the inside out. I'm telling you, when we don't accept people... it's not going to get them to run to God. It's going to force them to run in the opposite direction. And that's not what we want. Jesus' arms were open wide on the cross. So ought our arms be open wide toward each other. You can't love someone without accepting them. And you can't accept someone if you're trying to change them. Or expecting them to change. Or wishing they would change. The only true "change" in the universe took place 2,000 years ago on the cross when we were conformed to the image of God's Son. And that's what Paul is telling us to accept. By presenting our bodies as living sacrifices. By being who we are, and letting other people be who they are... and loving them as we are loved by God!

"That's unacceptable!" I think that's one of the most common reactions to things these days. Something isn't exactly how we think it should be, so we won't accept it. And the tragedy of it is when we find each other unacceptable. When we try to make other people live up to OUR standards. As if our standard is THE standard. Jesus addressed this problem in Matthew 23:4, "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." The Message Bible says it like this, "Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they packeage it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help." Basically, we think we know what's best for someone else and expect them to live up to that standard. On their own. Without any help from us. And when they inevitably fail... well, that's their fault for not being good enough. For being unacceptable. We try to get people to conform. Remember our key verse for this Rant series? "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" (Romans 12:2). Don't be conformed. And that word, "conformed" is number 4964 in Strong's Greek Concordance. It means, "to fashion alike, that is, conform to the same pattern." There's only one pattern we should be conformed to. The pattern Son. Jesus. And that's what the cross did. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). On the cross we WERE conformed to the image of Jesus. We were accepted in the Beloved. We were washed, and He presented us to Himself as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. So now, on this side of the cross, Paul is telling us not to be conformed to the world. Not to go back to what we thought we were before we knew the truth. Not to let other people tell us who we should be. Because Daddy has already told us who we are! We are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased! We ARE acceptable. And if someone thinks otherwise, that's THEIR problem, not your problem. If you try to jump through hoops for someone to be someone you're not you're going to fail. You CAN'T be someone your not. It's impossible. And then YOU are going to get frustrated and THEY are going to get frustrated. It's going to be a bad situation all around. I'm telling you. No matter how hard you try you can never be anybody except who you are. That's why it's so important to KNOW who you are. And that knowledge of who YOU are comes from the knowledge of who JESUS is. He is the truth about us. He is our true identity. We are accepted in the Beloved, because we are in Him (Jesus, the Beloved) and He is in us. We don't try to be like Him. We just be ourselves and let Him be HIMSELF in and through and as us!

The more I see this, the more sickened I am by it: People trying to be someone they are not. That's about the fakest thing there is. AND it's impossible. How could you be someone you're not? And why would you want to? Well, I know why people want to. Because they think they aren't good enough. But I've always been of the opinion that if you're not good enough to start with... how could you (on your own) improve upon that condition? Which is why abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life is built on the Rock of REST, not works and labor. You're not SUPPOSED to try to be someone you're not. You're supposed to discover who you are (by discovering who Jesus is... by letting Him reveal Himself to you and in you and through you and as you). Let me say it this way, "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" (Romans 12:2). There's a lot here, and that's why we're going to spend the next couple of days on it. But first things first. God doesn't have three wills. He doesn't have a good will, AND an acceptable will, AND a perfect will. His will is good, acceptable and perfect. Now I'm going to quote Galatians 1:4 because I think it best sums up what the will of God is. "Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." Now I'm not saying this is the only description of the "will of God" in the Bible. And I'm not saying that God's will for us manifests in the same way for everybody. But I like the picture here. We were slaves to sin--to unbelief, to a lie that said we had to do in order to be--and Jesus saved us from our sins by telling us the truth. The truth about who God is (our heavenly Father) and the truth about who we are (His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased). That was God's will. All throughout the Old Testament God shares His heart with us by telling us that He wants to be our God and He wants us to be His people. And then you fast forward to Revelation 21:3, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." God's will was accompished through the cross. Through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. And now we can prove that good, acceptable, perfect will. But who are we proving it to? OURSELVES! WE are the will of God. That WE might be good, acceptable, and perfect. That's what Jesus did on the cross. He presented us to Himself as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. And what the renewing of our mind does is it lets the truth in. The truth about who we are. So we can stop trying to be someone else. So we can see ourselves as Daddy sees us. So we can BE ourselves. You don't do in order to be. That's the lie. You do BECAUSE you be. That's the truth! You ARE good. You ARE perfect. And you ARE acceptable. And anyone who tells you differently isn't someone you need to be listening to anyway. "...let God be true, but every man a liar..." (Romans 3:4). Listen to what Daddy says, because He loves you!

I'm in it for the real thing. And the real thing... is love. How do we keep our affections on things above, and not things on the earth? By keeping our affections on love. I'm telling you, if Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega (and He is)... if He is the beginning and the end... then that means we ought to start with love and end with love. And we oughta let love be everything in between. This life that we've been given... this eternal, everlasting, abundant Resurrection Life that IS the gift of God... it's for living. And to live is to love. To love is to live. I really think that's why our lives might feel empty sometimes. Because we stop focusing on love. We get caught up in all the surface stuff, all the fake stuff, that is screaming for our attention and we stop listening to the still small voice that's deep inside. The still small voice of the Holy Spirit. The Comforter. The Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit that leads and guides us into all truth by testifying about Jesus. Testifying about our true identity which IS Jesus. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. And when we know (and believe) who we really are then we are comforted by the ultimate truth of the universe--The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. He has given all things into OUR hands. All things that pertain to life and godliness. All Spiritual blessings. Everything we ever could or ever would need. Love. Because if living is loving... but you can't give what you don't have... then without God loving us we couldn't live. We couldn't REALLY live. We could do what most people seem to do, which is spend our "lives" looking for love in all the wrong places. Trying to GET something instead of receiving (and releasing) that which we've already been given. The entire book of Ecclesiastes is about this search... trying to fill the God-shaped void inside of us. And nothing works. Because nothing can fill a God shaped void... except God. Nothing can fill a LOVE shaped void except love. And the tragedy about looking for it in all the wrong places is that God literally died so that we could go straight to the source. So, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Where do we go to find grace? The throne of grace! Where else would it be? Noah found it in the EYES of the Lord! Jesus IS our throne, even as He is the King of kings who sits on the throne at the right hand of the Father. So where do we find love? In the God who IS love! And where does God live? IN US! So where do we find love? In our hearts! In God's heart, which beats with love in our chests. And since it's in us it can come out of us. It can come out THROUGH us. We can live Jesus' (real) abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life by resting in Him and letting Him live His own life (of love) in and through and as us! In my circle, when it's time to hug it out, we say, "Bring it in for the real thing." Because it's that loving embrace. The same loving embrace that Jesus gave us when His arms were open wide on the cross. That's not fake. That's as real as it gets. LOVE is as real as it gets!

In my life I have two lists. A list of things that are important--worth jumping a fence over--and a list of things that aren't important. The "important things" list really only has two things on it: God, and people. The other list gets things added to it every day. Logan doesn't even ask me what I mean anymore when I say, "Put it on the list!" He knows that it's something I don't care about. But this way of thinking CAN be pretty frustrating sometimes. Especially when other people (who are on the "important things" list, who I DO care about) spend so much of their time, talent, and treasure on things that AREN'T important. And I'm really not trying to be condescending, or anything like that. I know it's easy to get caught up in things. I know just because something isn't important to me doesn't mean it can't be important to you. I'm just saying that I think it's important to have your priorities straight. We ignore people sometimes in order to "serve God." Like... "Sorry, I can't help you. I have to go to church." And I hope you all know that I'm not anti-church. I'm just pro-people. People are real. Love is real. Loving people is real. In fact, I'm convinced that the best, most real way to love God is by loving people. 1 John 4:20 says it like this, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" Remember when I Ranted about discipleship? People will know we are disciples because we have love one for another. It always comes back to love. Because that's what's real. That's the ONLY thing that's real. All this other stuff we get caught up in... does it really matter? Or should you put it on the list? Should you, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you" (1 Peter 5:7 NLT)? Shouldn't we stop trying to force change, and just embrace the change that took place on the cross? Stop trying to get into the Kingdom and realize and understand that you are already IN the Kingdom. Because the Kingdom of God (the Kingdom of love) is within you! You already ARE the Kingdom! Because the Kingdom is where the King rules and reigns. He rules and reigns in us. We are kings and priests and we reign on this earth. We execute the righteous judgment that was handed down from Father to Son. The life sentence that was given when God raised Jesus (and us in Him) from the dead. To live is to love and to love is to live. Right? So real life is a life of love. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. Loving people by receiving and releasing the love of God that He has filled us (to overflowing) with. Not trying to be someone we're not, or do something that's not natural to us, or fix something that's broken. But simply by being who we are, doing what we do in love and with love, and resting in the finished work of the cross. Two lists. One with lots of stuff... and one with the real. There's a whole lot of stuff out there in the world. But the only thing in the Kingdom is real love!

Love is real. That's why it's all I seem to talk about, or write about, or think about. Because I can't think of anything I'd RATHER talk about, or write about, or think about. God IS love. I'm really trying to frame everything--EVERYTHING--in the reference of love. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, right? The beginning and the end? And Jesus is love. God in the flesh, love in a body. So that means love is the beginning and the end. We start with it (with HIM) and we end with it (with HIM). That's when we move out of the fake, surface, circumstantial WORLD and into the real, deep, everlasting Kingdom of God. And when I say "move" what I really mean is MANIFEST. Colossians 1:12-14 says, "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Remember the cross? The FINISHED work? We aren't trying to get into the Kingdom. We're already in the Kingdom. And since the Kingdom is simply the realm where the King rules and reigns... we ARE the Kingdom! The Kingdom is real. It's not just where we live, it's who we are. And since it's the Kingdom of God... it's the Kingdom of LOVE. When I read the Bible, I actually replace the Word God with the Word Love. Just so I can keep my affections on things above. Just to remind myself about what we're really talking about here. The tricky part, as always, is that the surface stuff--the fake stuff--is right in our face. The world screams at the top of it's lungs trying to conform us. But think about it this way: If we need to be conformed to the world, it's only because we've already been taken out of the world! We've already been translated into the Kingdom! Which is why Paul warns us to, "...be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..." (Romans 12:2). Not because we need to GET transformed, but because we need to BE transformed into what we've already BEEN transformed into! We need to walk in newness of life, instead of trying to earn a new life. Struggling, and scraping by, and letting the world dictate to us is NOT why we were created. We were created to experience the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Jesus by letting Him live His life in and through and as us. We were created for something real. Created to be loved, and to love one another with that same agape God love. Guys... to live is to love and to love is to live. You can't experience real life without real love. They're one and the same. God is love. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE. You can't have one without the other. So in my life... that's all I want. I want the real. I want the love. And I know that I already have it. So now I can share it. I can receive it and release it. I don't have to accept what the world offers because it's fake. It's a lie. And I know the truth!

Ogres are like onions, right? Because they have layers. What you see is not always what you get. There's something unseen under the surface. And you have to dig a little deeper to see it. You have to look INTO people instead of just looking AT people. You have to stop judging by appearance and judge righteous judgment. Let the deep call out to the deep. Let the Jesus--the LOVE--in my connect to the Jesus--the LOVE--in you. Because that's what's real. I can't tell you how sick and tired I am of conversations like this: "How are you?" "Fine." And that's it. I'm actually pretty well convinced that the word "fine" used to mean something else but now it means, "I'm hurting, but I'm going to pretend I'm not because I'm afraid to be vulnerable." And that's such a shame to me. Because I know that in some ways, to some degree, everybody is going through stuff. That's called life. We go through stuff. A lot of it is surface stuff. Stuff that we MAKE important, by magnifying it, that really isn't that important. My litmus test is pretty simple. Would I jump a fence for it? Not a TON of effort is required to jump a fence, but more effort than staying still. So, if I would, then ok. If it's worth physically doing something about... then it's real. But if I wouldn't... then I should probably just let it go and not worry about it. But man, oh man, do we like to make mountains out of molehills. We'll take the smallest thing and blow it way out of proportion. Wreck our whole day because someone slighted us. (When, in truth, they were probably so wrapped up in themselves that they didn't even mean to do what they did in the first place.) What am I saying? There's the real... and there's everything else. But we're so focused on everything else that we MISS the real. I like this verse, Colossians 3:2, because it's short and sweet and to the point. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Focus on the real. Look at the unseen, because it's eternal. What you magnify is what manifests. Instead of fighting the dark, just let the light shine and watch the darkness flee. Instead of trying to fix everything (and inevitably making it worse) trust that Daddy's in control. Trust that there's a big picture, and your situation is only a small part of it. Remember that it came to pass, not to stay. And remember that love never fails. The real thing. Agape love. Sacrificial love. Laying your life down for your friends love. So no matter what... you can help people. You can dig a little deeper. You don't have to accept fake, and you don't have to try to change the situation (or the person). You can just love. I always end my sermons by saying, "I love you and there's nothing you can do about it." And I truly believe that. Accept my love, reject my love, whatever. You're not going to CHANGE my love. Because it's real. It's eternal. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). His Word is love. And when all else fails... love wins. Nothing can stop it. Nothing can contain it. It's deep, and it's wide. It's eternal, and everlasting, and abundant. It's... real.