Acceptable part 5
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!