Daily Devotion 2018: MARCH 14 | Be Inspired. Feel Blessed | “We’ve been accepted by God”

Many of us spend our entire lives trying to earn acceptance. We want to earn it from our family, friends, and love ones in life. The push to be accepted is a deep desire that can influence the kinds of clothes we wear, the kind of car we drive, the kind of house we buy, and even the career we choose.

When we are kid maybe we wanted so badly to join the in-crowd. Someone would say, “I dare you to do this,” and they would suggest probably something that was either foolish or put your personal safety at risk. But we did it anyway because our desire to be accepted repealed the desire for safety.

But because we love the feeling of “I’m okay so we do it. Somebody accepts us.” When we’re accepted, it does wonderful things for our confidence in one's own worth. The truth is, Jesus accepts us, and that acceptance is not based on our performance. In fact, we may have received Christ, but do we realize we’re able to do that because Jesus accepted us? We don’t have to earn His acceptance. We don’t have to prove ourselves to Him.

We need to be reminded that there is God up there whom who always accepts us, and stop thinking that we’ve got to be a good to be accepted. God, through Jesus Christ, has already accepted us. That’s the Good News.

The Scripture teaches, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me” (Psalm 27:10 NIV). Even today we may be trying to prove ourselves and still attempting to earn that acceptance. I want to share this learning from Pastor Rick Warren that we need to understand two things: First, if we haven’t gotten the approval by now, then we’re not likely to ever get it — and second, that is their problem, not ours.

We don’t need to be accepted by others to please God. We’ve been accepted by God.