CHRIST-DAILY
DEVOTIONS
 June 21st

ACCEPTANCE

"According to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:5b,6).

Paul states this at the end of a long sentence of Ephesians 1:3-6.  These things are done according to the good pleasure of the will of the Father.  The Father has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ (Eph. 1:3).  The Father has chosen us in His eternal plan in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).  Our Father's chosen and destination for all men, was to in love choose His plan to be in Christ (Eph. 1:5).  Why?  Our Father wanted us to be in Christ and Christ in us at the Spirit birthing so that we could "be holy and without blame before Him in love" (Eph. 1:4).  Our Father truly set His eternal plan in motion, so that we could receive our Father's acceptance in Christ.

Our Father loves His beloved Son.  He placed us into Christ and Christ into us at the Spirit birthing so we could be a part of the Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:13).  Our Father loves the Body of Christ, for it is the body of His own beloved Son. This is what this passage means when it says, "He made us accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6). Beloved is capitalized, because it is referring to His Beloved SonChrist.   The in Christ position, is the only position of our acceptance by our Heavenly Father.  There was a middle wall of division between the Father and us, due to sin (Eph. 2:14).  Through the shed blood of Jesus we have forgiveness of sins and redemption (Eph. 1:7), to and for a relationship and fellowship with our Heavenly Father.  Through the death of Jesus on the cross, there was death and abolishment to everything that separated us from a relationship and fellowship with our Heavenly Father (Eph. 2:15-16).   Christ through the work of the Cross is our peace with our Heavenly Father (Eph. 2:14), and has reconciled us to our Father (Col. 1:20).  Christ is our acceptance.  All genuine acceptance is in, by, and through Christ.

Now that we are accepted by our Heavenly Father, we want to let Christ live in and through us for others.  Letting Christ live in us as us fulfilling our Father's will and desires, is our acceptable response as a living sacrifice (I Pet. 2:5). We should genuinely let Christ fully live the Father's will outworking His love-for-others Spirit and nature.  First of all, we will be concerned with others and pray for them (I Tim. 2:1). We will lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity (I Tim. 2:2). This is good and acceptable in God's sight (1Tim. 2:3).  When you know who you are in Christ, and you genuinely and spontaneously let Him be expressed in you as you, then you will be living a life of acceptance! V

Written by Dwight Davis
Christ-Ministries
 

                                               

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