Loved and Accepted

One preacher on TV was whining about the poor treatment that believers endure from day to day in this life. Most people do not appreciate us, they tend to judge us harshly or unfairly, they look down on us, and in many cases when you try to do something good, they misunderstand what we have done and look for something to suspect.

Finally, she ended this tirade of Christian self-pity with:

"All anybody wants is to be accepted and loved."

The way she said it made it sound as if these are distant and elusive goals. On the contrary, every believer already has full, infinite access to these two things:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)

We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings. He  has chosen us long before we were ever born, or before there was even an earth. We are made perfect before Him, holy and blameless. God Himself has adopted us, making us one with Him. Above all, in direct refutation to the empty pleading of the preacher, God the Father has already accepted us, and He accepts us as if we were His own Son! Just before His trial and crucifixion, Jesus prayed to His Father:

"I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John 17: 23)

Because we are in Christ, God looks at His Son, and He therefore see us! We have the same access before God that His own Son has:

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

"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: 14-16)

Christ entered the Holy of Holies, representing us. He died for our sins, all of the, and now He sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us, representing us, justifying us before God the Father. We receive this wonderful mystery through His Holy Spirit, who has born within us Christ Jesus (Galatians 4: 9)

For people like the preacher mentioned above, they are spending too much time regarding the opinion of others instead of setting their minds on things above, where Jesus is seated (Colossians 3: 1)  If we would spend more time allowing our minds to be renewed to the Truth of Scripture, that  we grew in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, who we are in Christ, then we would not waste one more second worrying about what other people think of us. We would not pine for love and acceptance, knowing that God loves us as much as His Own Son! That His own Son lives within us, ministering to us through His Holy Spirit, should be more than enough to dispell low self-esteem, dejection, rejection, bitter thoughts, fears and tumults, or any other sense of inferiority!