Acceptance part 3
We know that we are accepted in the beloved--in Jesus. We know that because we are accepted there is no condemnation. And that includes--first and foremost--self-condemnation. But here's the question: What IS acceptance? And to me, as simply as I can make it, if you accept someone you aren't trying to change them. At all. Revelation 22:11 says it like this, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." We have to let people be who they are! Trying to change someone will never work. Behavior modification may seem to have some limited success at the beginning, but at the end of the day you are who you are. Change doesn't come from the outside. It comes from the inside. It comes from the finished work of the cross. "Change" comes from understanding the change that took place 2,000 years ago. And while we are figuring out this change--the life-long journey into the heart of the matter, which is the heart--we need to let people figure it out! It's funny to me that sin conscious preachers like to attack the very things that they are dealing with. See, we want people to be like us, but better versions of us. We don't want to struggle with things, so if we see someone else struggling with the same things we want them to change! We can't, so they better! That's not acceptance. Even if you justify it by saying, "I want something better for you," that's not accepting them. We attack differences instead of celebrating them. Each and every one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. Each one of us is unique. Each one of us has a purpose and a role. If I force you to change, and be like me, then who is going to do what you're supposed to do? And this idea of acceptance REALLY applies to relationships. Because it's easy for me to let you be who you are if it really doesn't effect me. But when you're in a relationship--especially a "romantic relationship"--EVERYTHING you do affects the other person. That's what it means to be one flesh. No more "me," but "we." If you're constantly trying to change your signifigant other... that's a pretty clear sign that they aren't right for you. In the same manner, if God was constantly trying to change us... that would mean, in a sense, that there's something wrong with us. And there's not. God made man and declared us to be very good. He didn't make a mistake, and He didn't make crap. When you look in the mirror with an unveiled face and see the glory of the Lord you are changed into that same image from GLORY to glory. Not from crap to glory. The "change" isn't really a change at all. It's a conformation. It's a maturation process into what we already are as we learn what we already are. BE transformed, into what you've already been transformed into. Not GET transformed. Accept the fact that you've already been "changed" or transformed, and accept the fact that it's only by revelation that the change that already took place INSIDE will come OUT. Accept others for who they are and stop trying to change them into something they're not. Meet people where they're at and love them where they're at. That displays the "change" in you and shows others the "change" in them!