The Resurrection and the Reverend

God created you and me. Even though He is divine and infinitely greater than us, He wants to accept all of us into His family. Being accepted doesn’t just give us a good feeling; acceptance is one of our deepest needs as humans.

When God made the first humans, He was very pleased with us. But when humans went their own way against God, He was grieved because, in His holiness, God cannot accept sin, and people became separated from Him. Yet God longed for us to be near Him again, so Jesus, God the Son, came to live among us. His death and resurrection provided the only way for us to be made acceptable to God. And Jesus also showed us how He calls us to accept one another.

To accept others is to welcome them without judgment or resentment. Accepting them despite their differences, flaws, mistakes, and past or present situation is a noble thing to do. Jesus, being the perfect human and the perfect God, accepted His disciples and other people without any demands. Jesus repeatedly ate with outcasts, those considered notorious sinners and traitors. He wanted them to choose Him, and many of these people did eventually turn to God and away from their old, sinful ways. But Jesus accepted them before they made any changes in their lives.

Jesus revealed that God loves us unconditionally. He gave His own life so that we could be faultless in God’s sight. In the same way Jesus accepts us despite our faults, He calls us to accept others, no matter who they are or what they’ve done. Jesus calls us to accept one another the way He accepts us.

When we accept others, we bring praise to God. He created us to be in community and, through Jesus, He has provided the way for us to accept each other wholeheartedly. If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we have been accepted into God’s family, and His Holy Spirit lives in us, empowering us to accept one another as Christ accepted us. Remember that when we accept others, we imitate Jesus and reflect His love and compassion. • Golda Dilema

• When is it difficult for you to accept others? In moments when it’s hard to follow the way Jesus accepted people, how can you remember Jesus’s love and acceptance toward you?

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7 (NIV)

Read Verses:

Matt.28.1-Matt.28.15|1Cor.15.50-1Cor.15.58