Acceptance part 2
You can't give what you don't have. That's why Jesus finished the work. He did it all so we could get it all. And now we have it all, so we can do it all. We forgive because we are forgiven. We love because we are loved. We accept... because we are accepted. But I'm really convinced that the first thing (or person) we need to accept... is ourselves. I'm so sick of this idea that we're not good enough. When God finished His creative work, way back in the beginning, He looked at everything (including man... including YOU) that He had made and He said it was very good. Mankind is not the scum of the earth that needs to change in order to be accepted. We ARE accepted in the beloved. HE--Jesus, the beloved Son of God--is accepted. And He's in us and we're in Him. So WE--the body of Christ--are accepted. That's a done deal. We don't need to do anything in order to earn acceptance. And thank God for that because there's nothing we can do TO earn that acceptance. We are accepted by God for the same reason my son, Logan, is accepted by me: Because we're His. Logan is mine. I accept him and love him unconditionally. That's what a father's love IS. So. Since we ARE accepted... we can accept. And, again, today I'm focusing on accepting ourselves. The harder you try to be someone you're not the more you fail to be anybody at all. God doesn't want you to be somebody you're not. He wants you to know, and accept, and BE who you are. That's why He sent His Son. Jesus came so that we might see and know the Father. So that we might see and know ourselves in the context of that Father/Son relationship. So that would stop trying to be somebody else. Stop trying to fit into a box that doesn't fit. Acceptance. Romans 8:1 (NLT) says it like this, "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." (And I just want to say I believe we ALL belong to Christ Jesus. When He was on the cross and He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," I believe He was praying for all of humanity. And I believe Father God heard, and answered, that prayer. Obviously we haven't all ACCEPTED Him, but that doesn't mean we don't belong to Him.) There's now no condemnation. Which includes self-condemnation. We have to give ourselves grace before we can give it to anyone else. We have to accept ourselves before we can accept anyone else. Because if I'm condemning myself, and trying to change myself, then I'm totally and completely self-centered. Self-focused. If I'm focused on me then I can't be focused on you. And you are where my focus needs to be. Not to condemn, but to help. I can't help someone else if all I'm doing is trying to help myself. And if I help you and you help me--if we focus on each other--then I don't need to worry about me and you don't need to worry about you. Then we can accept each other as different parts of the same body. Then we can work together. Then we can truly experience love... by receving it and releasing it!