Fully accepted and acceptable
I’ve heard His whisper in my spirit, and I’ve answered as often and completely as I can. He made us each so uniquely and beautifully and He wants you to come to Him, to know Him, and to love Him.
It is in the rejection of others that I found my full acceptance in Him. That may sound dramatic to you, and I wince a bit when I read it. I see now that I had developed artful, self-preserving ways of managing relationships around me. These behaviors became habits and they are manipulative. These methods also deplete the soul. If I think you can’t handle me, I’ll tone myself down. If you like to laugh, I’ll turn up the humor. And with each tweak, I become less of myself and lose fragments and scraps of my personality as they slip away. The main goal in a life like this is acceptance, and it’s like curating a persona to accomplish it, which I wrote about here. It is easy for me to equate acceptance with relationship. I thought I was a capable and strong person. And maybe I am, apart from Him. With Him, I find I am needy and weak. Then He gets to shine out strong.
It is in the aftermath of rejection that I found I can go to Him at any time in any way, and He truly delights to receive me every single time. There is absolutely no way He will reject me, as He promised in John 6:37. It is in this confidence that I find the sufficiency of the Blood of Christ. This Blood is so highly prized by the Father, and it is complete in its sufficiency. This precious Blood has won my acceptance with the Father, making me completely acceptable to Him. His acceptance never wanes. He is not capricious. There is also the Body of Christ, replete with sufficiency as well. The Body is where the strength and power lies. It is in ingesting His Body that I am able to live His life. He has given both His Body and His Blood for us, and I have learned to count on full sacrifice of Jesus. All of Him for all of me. His Father has judged His sacrifice worthy, therefore I am worthy.
When I am accepted by others, I can develop a false sense of well-being. In this age of more technology, I think we are more fickle than ever before. No one can live up to their own hype. The acceptance of my fragments and scraps of self today may change or be gone tomorrow. I should know. I’ve lived it. It stings sometimes to be so misunderstood and maligned. However, when I look back through the Scriptures, I am in good company. Royal company. Prophet company. Jesus company. Maybe I ought not polish myself so heartily anymore. Maybe I ought to just dance at the fringes of this band of beggars I find myself with. Names that are fast disappearing from our culture, and even from our churches. Names found in Hebrews 11, in the Hall of Faith, but also names scattered throughout His story.
Lord, I am coming
It was while reading Psalm 27:8 in the New Living Translation that I heard it in my spirit. I laughed with delight, because the call has come so often and resounded so completely in my spirit. “Come and talk with me,” He insistently invites. My Father wants time with me, privately, unhurriedly and without distraction. He wants my posture to reflect my mind, and my words to falter as I muse and wonder. He wants to pluck me from the net of my enemies and show me the wonders of His secret counsel. He is for me, because He has sealed me, and He wants me to look Him full in His face. This is looking at the portrait of Jesus that the Scripture paints so completely. Jesus, the image of the invisible God. He may use different means to teach me in each season, yet, the Treasure and the Desire of my heart is Him. I find myself more thankful for the gifts He gives, simply because I can see Him more clearly.
His invitation is for you, as well. He wants you. I encourage you to stop looking so closely at the method, the timing, the place or yourself and simply answer in going to Him. He beckons you to come to Him through His Scripture, His Spirit and His creation. Everything becomes a tool at His disposal to capture your longing, your disappointments, your interest. He is kind and persistent. He is good and trustworthy. His unchanging character is where I found my true self. It’s in Him that I have found my own acceptance. He carefully crafted me, and therefore cares to continue His work. This is mind-boggling and liberating. He accepts me, therefore I am acceptable.
