May 21 - We Are Accepted!

     Rejection, simply defined, is the sense of being unwanted or the sense that, although you want people to love you, no one does. Or it can be the desire to belong to a group from which you feel excluded—it seems you’re always on the outside looking in. One reason that so many people today suffer from the problem of rejection is the form of our society and its pressures, particularly those causing the breakup of family life.

     What is the opposite of rejection? It is acceptance. I love the last part of Ephesians 1:6, which says, “He [God] has made us accepted in the Beloved.” Jesus, God’s true and only begotten Son, was rejected so that we, who were unworthy rebels, might have His acceptance with the Father. The surest remedy for our problems is to believe that Jesus bore our rejection that we might have His acceptance with the Father.

     God’s family is the best family. There is none equal to it. Even if your own family did not care for you—perhaps your father rejected you or your mother never had time for you—God still wants you. You are accepted. You are the object of His special care and affection. Everything He does in the universe revolves around you.

     When God says that we are accepted, He does not mean that we are merely tolerated. We never take too much of His time. The only thing that upsets Him is when we stay away too long. He does not push us off into a corner and say, “Wait. I’m too busy. I don’t have time for you.” Rather, He says, “I’m interested in you. I want you. You’re welcome. Come in. I’ve been waiting a long time for you.”

Thank You, Jesus, for Your work on the cross. I proclaim that “God has made me accepted in the Beloved,” and He welcomes me. Jesus endured my rejection that I might have His acceptance with the Father. Amen.