To the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Ephesians 1:6
Do you
want to be accepted? I think the answer has to be obvious. It seems almost
innate that we desire to be accepted by those we love. We want to be accepted
by our parents, we want to be accepted by our friends. We even want to be
accepted by those that are not our friends and even those we do not even know.
The
inspired Apostle Paul let us know how we are accepted by our God. Yet, the word
translated “accepted” is a form of the Greek word charis or “grace.” So the
word most closely means He "graced" us. God graced us with His
presence through His Son Christ Jesus, and it goes even deeper. The Word tells us He graced us because of
Christ's presence (cf. Eph. 2:8). He graced us by sending His only Son who
lived a perfect and sinless life (cf. Heb 4:15). He graced us with the fact that
sinless life He gave up willingly on the cross (cf. Jn 10:17). He graced us
while we were yet sinners so that we might be redeemed (cf. Rom 5:8).
Why would
anyone not want to be accepted? Why would you not want to be graced because of
Jesus' presence? We have some who have not been graced and will not do so. They will not obey the
Gospel because it might deny them acceptance by a group of friends, ones they
love, or even those who are not even their friends. Regardless, there is no
middle ground with Christ. Obeying His Gospel will cost you everything, but it
will give you everything you need to be saved, to be graced, and to be
accepted.
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