Hello All,
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
Your True Value
In the market for performance-based acceptance, your value to any organization is defined by your ability to produce. Those who get the results get the recognition. But in the kingdom of God, your value is determined by the One who accepts you. Your value is not based on your results or your fruit, but your Father's unconditional approval.
God accepts you! (I'll keep banging this drum until I get an "Amen.") Whether you preach a thousand sermons or none at all, your heavenly Father is thoroughly pleased with you. There is nothing you can do to make him more pleased than he already is. Just as your good works don't make you any more pleasing to God, neither do your bad works make you less pleasing. If you yell at the kids and fight with your spouse you are still acceptable. You may need to make peace with your family, but you already have everlasting peace with God on account of Jesus.
This is so alien to the way we have been raised, that we have trouble believing it. "But I'm a total failure. Look at the mess I have made of my life." And God responds, "You're my beloved child and I am well-pleased with you."
Our Father's loving affirmation is completely at odds with the fault-finding messages of this broken world. We are constantly being told, "You're not good enough. You're not smart enough, tall enough, rich enough, or cool enough. Your teeth aren't white enough or straight enough. Your skin is the wrong color, your body is the wrong shape, and your smell bad." Listen to this twaddle long enough and you'll end up a miserable wreck. You'll make yourself susceptible to the seductive lies of advertisers and snake oil salesmen.
If you want a proper estimation of your true worth, don't look at your academic transcripts or your resume and definitely don't look in the mirror. Instead, look to the cross. Jesus loves you more than his own life. That's the message of the gospel and it's the cure for mother wounds, low self-esteem, and all forms of rejection.
Understand that there are different voices all competing to be heard and that you have to choose whom you will heed. On the one hand, you have broken people speaking lies about you that really say more about their own brokenness than yours, and on the other, you have Almighty God declaring his unconditional acceptance of you. The world finds fault with you and does nothing to help, but God says, "You're mine" and pours out his favor. Who will you listen to?
When you know God is pleased with you regardless of your productivity, it will free you from the pressure to perform. When you've heard God say "Yes" to you, it will empower you to say "No" to the unhealthy demands of Pharaoh's whip-cracking taskmasters. If you have been burning the candle at both ends trying to get ahead, a revelation of God's acceptance will bring you to a place of rest. It will get you off the merry-go-round and sit you down in pastures green.
But that doesn't mean you will be idle. Those who wait upon the Lord renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31). Paradoxically, those who have been freed from the need to produce are often the most productive people around. This happens because the loving acceptance of another brings out the best in us, particularly if the Other is someone special.
Perhaps you have had the pleasant experience of being accepted by the most beautiful girl in the room or the best man in the house. It is the thrill of being elevated to a higher level. "Really?! You choose me? But you're way out of my league." As nice as that is, it pales in comparison to the lift that comes from being accepted by the Maker of heaven and earth. To the glory of his grace you have been lifted out of the miry clay and seated with him in heavenly places. Talk about your upward mobility.
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In the old covenant they prayed for the day when the Lord would make his face shine upon you, be gracious to you, and give you peace. The good news is that you are living in that day. He is looking at you full in the face and beaming with a galaxy-sized smile. You are the apple of his eye and he rejoices over you with singing.
Freedom is found in the Father's acceptance. When you know beyond all doubt that you are your Daddy's delight, you will be set free from the need to please others. The pressure to perform will lift and the unholy expectations of men will seem ridiculous. My Father is pleased with me. I don't have to prove a thing! If thoughts of rejection should enter your head, you will dismiss them without a care. God is for me! Who can be against me?
Secure in your Father's favor you will become fearless and bold. You will dine in the presence of your enemies and laugh in the face of adversity. You will dance upon the waves of circumstances and when you are tried by fires of life you shall not be burned (see Isaiah 43:2).
The gospel is not an invitation to accept Jesus; it is the stunning announcement that he accepts you. Although the law reveals it is impossible for you to make yourself acceptable and pleasing to God, the gospel of acceptance declares that in Christ you have been made acceptable for eternity. Nothing you do can make you more or less pleasing to God than you already are. All this is to the praise of the glory of his grace.
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