Acceptance and love…people crave to be accepted and loved. Support groups of all kinds have come into being because people want to be accepted…loved…and even respected. How others welcome you when they greet you tells how you are received…or rejected.
God has expressed how He views us in Scripture…our response to God must be through the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. This relationship is not a religion, it is a relationship with the living God. This relationship determines if we are favored by God through His Son, or still in need of His Son as our Savior. There was a young woman who was unmarried, engaged, but not yet wed. She found favor with God.
(NASB) Luke 1:28 “And coming in, he said to her, “˜Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.'”
Gabriel came into the room where Mary was and the words he greeted her with were…mind-boggling. She was favored by the Lord God Himself. It was nothing she had done but it would be something which God would do through her.
How do you see yourself from God’s point of view? Does it depend on your “˜goodness’? Your “˜goodness’ is not to be trusted, because it can fail miserably.
Does it depend on how you are feeling at the moment? Feelings are often untrustworthy.
Does it depend on your confidence level in your position or social standing, or money, or your good looks, or reputation? All can be stripped away quickly.
How does God see you according to Scripture? You and I need Jesus as our Savior then He will see us as being favored. To know Him better is to know the hope to which He calls you, the rich inheritance waiting for you and God’s incomparably great power for you. Blessed! Indeed!
(NIV) Ephesians 1:17-19 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you many know him better.
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
God’s arms are always open to you – it is your choice to move into His embrace of love or to turn away. His love and acceptance of you must be through His Son, Who died for you to live with Him…forever.
If you are a “˜favored’ one…then praise be to God. If you have not yet found favor before God, now is the time to receive Jesus as your Savior.
Admit your sins – those things that are wrong in God’s sight – Confess them to God
Accept His forgiveness and ask Jesus to come into your life.
Acceptance of God’s love is very simple…but it requires acknowledging your need of Jesus.
