Romans 15:7: “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.” Today's episode explains that God accepts us. He doesn't accept us because we are perfect or getting it all right. He accepts us as we are, even with our faults. He knows we are not perfect. He took our sins to the cross, our current ones as well as our future ones. So, yes, He knows all about us. He still accepts us and wants us to accept others as He accepts us. Music:"Adding the Sun"fine us. It is not fun, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
I Am Accepted by Christ
Romans 15:7 “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.”
I thought this one was especially important for us to know because it is one that might be hard for us to believe. It is also something that we are all desperately searching for. We all want to be accepted. We all need to be accepted. Sometimes, we will go to extraordinary lengths to change who we are just to feel accepted. This is not the kind of acceptance that we want. I think we all wish, down deep in our hearts, that we could just be who we truly are. Yet, we feel if we are our true selves, then we won’t be accepted. We fear to be ourselves because we worry that if we are, people will think we are too much or not enough.
They might say we are not kind enough, silly enough, joyful enough, pretty enough, or anything else we might struggle with. They may also say that we are too loud, too excited, too peppy, too old, too young. Whatever our insecurities are, whatever the enemy is whispering in our ear, that is what we fear people will think of us. I know for me, I always think I don’t make an impression. I sit more on the outside of the circle and observe. I am always surprised when someone says that they remember me or that I did something that touched them in some way. If you know me, that may seem weird to hear. I think we all have these inner thoughts that our loved ones would be surprised to know we felt.
I just read my word and mantra to a friend the other day. My mantra is a statement about who I want to be at the end of 2025, and I say it every day, well, at least all three days so far this year, to remind me of who I want to become. When I read it to my friend, she said it was funny to her because I already seemed like I was that person in her eyes. I understand what she means, as when I am talking to people and listening to their struggles, I am often surprised to learn what they are struggling with. Beautiful people who have no idea how beautiful they are. Kind people who have no idea how loved they are by others. Faith-filled people who have no idea what a beacon of light they are to others.
This tells me that the enemy’s lies are working, and we need to change the game. We need to stop listening to him and listen to our Heavenly Father and listen to our friends and family. Why do we dismiss what our friends and family say as if they are just saying what we want to hear? Can’t both things be true? Can what they say be true and what we want to hear? We need to be able to believe the good things more than the bad things. Why are the bad things so much easier to believe?
I pray at the end of this month you will start to believe some of the good things more than the bad things. I pray by the end of this month, you will begin to see yourself through the eyes of the Lord instead of through the eyes of this world.
When we look at today’s verse, it is twofold. It tells us we are accepted by the Lord, and it also tells us to accept others as He accepts us. Listen again, “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.” When I looked this verse up on the Enduring Word website, this is what the pastor had to say:
Therefore, receive one another: (In other translations, it says to accept one another) Instead of letting these issues about disputable things divide Christians (especially making a division between Jew and Gentile), we should receive one another just as Christ received us – in terms of pure grace, knowing yet bearing with our faults.
It goes on to say: Spurgeon on just as Christ also received us: “Christ did not receive us (or accept us) because we were perfect, because he could see no fault in us, or because he hoped to gain somewhat at our hands. Ah, no! But, in loving condescension covering our faults, and seeking our good, he welcomed us to his heart; so, in the same way, and with the same purpose, let us receive one another.”
God doesn’t accept us because we are perfect. He doesn’t accept us because we are getting it all right, and we are doing all He asked us to do. None of us here on earth are getting it all right, or at least, not many of us. Most of us, even those who seem the more put together, are just doing the best we can. We all have things we struggle with and things we wish we could be better at. We all think everyone else is doing so much better than we are. They aren’t! We are all struggling. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it is not there. Do you let everyone see your struggles? No, most of us hide our struggles. Although, do you know what makes the struggle easier? Sharing it with others makes it easier to carry because we aren’t doing it by ourselves. It also makes it easier because sometimes others can see our situation with new eyes and may shed some light on it.
You are accepted by Christ. You are also accepted by God. Some may think that is something I wouldn’t have to say. Of course, if Jesus accepts me, then God accepts me as they are one. However, for many of us, it is much easier to believe that Jesus is loving and accepting and God is not. Kind of like how your dad can be a loving and forgiving friend but not always a loving and forgiving dad. It is important that we start to see God as a loving Father. It is important that we stop letting the enemy tell us who God is and we look for ourselves. God loves us. He always has. If you look back over the Bible, you will find more stories of God’s love than of his judgment. Are there harsh stories in the Bible? Absolutely. Has God done some things that we don’t understand? Definitely, yet if we look at all the things God has done in the Bible, there will be way more good than what we perceive as bad.
Many of us find it very easy to believe that God accepts others. We can look at someone struggling with so much more than we might be struggling with, and we might tell them they are loved and accepted by God, and we believe it with our whole hearts. It is so much easier to believe that He accepts others with all their faults, and yet we just know He can’t accept us. We have too many faults. We have done too many bad things. We aren’t worthy. We aren’t enough. We haven’t earned His acceptance yet. If this is where you are at, you are not alone. So many of us, even those you look at and think they are so religious. They are struggling with knowing God loves them and accepts them, too.
There is so much I want to say to everyone who doesn’t believe God loves them. Those who don’t believe God accepts them for who they are, faults in all. There is so much I want to say, and yet I am not sure if you will be able to hear it all at once. The only one who can change our hearts is God, and although He can do that in an instant, it usually takes time. It takes time for our hearts to soften. It takes time for the wounds in our hearts to begin to heal. It takes time for us to begin to be open to the idea that God may love us and even like us. I know it takes time, and that is why I will keep talking about this all month long, and I pray each day your heart softens a little more to the idea of who you are in God’s eyes. Feel free to go back and listen to these episodes as many times as you need to in order to start to really believe who God says you are in His eyes. Listen until you really believe it!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we pray that you help soften our hearts to all the things we hear this month about our identity. Lord, we invite you to come in and heal our wounds. Lord, we ask that you allow us to see ourselves through your eyes, even if just for a moment. Lord, we ask that each day this month, our minds and ears open up a little more to hear who you say we are. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I have decided that after this month is over, I will compile all these episodes about who God says we are, and I will put them in a devotional book that I will publish on Amazon. That way, if you want to read them over and over again until you believe them, you can. Also, I encourage you to re-listen to any of them that you have a particularly hard time believing. Also, I did an “I Am” series a while back on the podcast. So, if you have trouble believing you are whole, healed, guided, strong, his, courageous, or forgiven, you can go back and listen to episodes 540-548. And remember, if you want to join me in mentoring this month, I will go deeper into who God says we are. Knowing our identity is important. There is a link for more info on mentoring below. God loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in June 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I am the flame of love that runs through you, and I purify all that is not of me. Seek me more, seek me more each day.”