Over time, it seems I keep coming back to certain things about God's grace that mean so much to me. These truths are the ones I need to hear every day, the ones I need to "preach" to myself, the ones that just make my heart sing! Sometimes I have trouble believing them, but still they're true! I'd like to post them one at a time.
GOD ACCEPTS US
We're accepted. "He made us accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6). The word translated accepted means "to grace, to favor". He has graced us and favored us. We are standing in His grace (Rom. 5:1)! He has welcomed us in and embraced us. We're adopted into His family and are His beloved children. The Spirit confirms this and tells us to call Him "Daddy"! He loves us with the same love He has for Jesus (John 17:23)! We're accepted no matter what happens, no matter what we do. We are accepted at our lowest, even. We are accepted as we are, not as we should be (Brennan Manning). We are taken in, brought into His circle of love. He is totally okay with us. And this acceptance is never based on us our our performance but always on Him and His nature of love. His acceptance is freely given and never needs to be "earned".
This was one of the first big grace truths that God showed me, and I'm still needing to hear it daily. It changed my life to find out that what I had been trying so hard to get - His acceptance - was mine already. The cross is God loving us, embracing us, ACCEPTING us. So we are okay to God! He's not angry with us, disappointed with us, or frustrated with us...He's happy with us, content with us! We are accepted! Thank you for that, Jesus!
