Acceptance - We all seek it, from a very early age! We seek it from our parents, wanting their approval. We seek acceptance from our siblings, craving their attention. And as we get old enough to venture out into our neighborhoods, we seek acceptance from our peers, wanting to be part of a group.
Those who are introduced to God at some point in their lives - also seek Divine approval & acceptance - wanting to please their Maker, and be blessed by Him.
What does your Bible say about acceptance? Should Christians seek acceptance from others and God? Are there any instructions in Scripture about how people can pursue acceptance from their creator? Do we see any examples of Biblical characters trying to gain acceptance from God or their fellow man?
After Jacob dissed his brother Esau by stealing his birthright, they re-united over a decade later. But before the meeting took place, Jacob sent servants ahead of him to present Esau a gift, saying, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterwards I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” (GENESIS 32:20) Fortunately, for Jacob, Esau did accept him upon his return.
After King David sinned against YHVH, by going against God’s instruction to not number the people of Israel, one of David’s subjects said to him, “May YHVH, your God, accept you.”
Who’s more accepting, God or men? The Biblical record, and Human experience, shows us that God is far more patient and accepting of mankind, than men are accepting of each other. Job’s friends would not accept him as righteous, explaining throughout the book that he must be hiding some malfeasance that YHVH was punishing him for. God finally responded, saying to Job’s friends: “Now therefore, take for yourselves 7 bulls and 7 rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly.” (JOB 42:8)
The apostle Paul was inspired to write: “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” (ROMANS 15:7 NIV) Paul also wrote to the Corinthians, “Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to Law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? (I CORINTHIANS 6:7) Christians must learn to accept mistreatment from one another from time to time, because we’re all flawed, therefore we must be patient, forgiving, and accepting of one another. God says in the Old Testament: “To do what is right and just, is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (PR.21:3)
Vengeance, and holding of grudges, are what ‘worldly’ people engage in when mistreated by others. Paul writes about the fact that this was once us: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light… finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.” (EPHESIANS 5:8)
Few Christians heed this instruction about ‘finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.’ It’s either to much work to comb the pages of Scripture and find out what behavior God accepts, as opposed to what He rejects, or they’ve been taught erroneously that God accepts them ‘just the way they are.’ While it is true that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… Paul goes on to ask, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” (ROMANS 5:8; 6:1,2)
God says: “The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.” (PROVERBS 10:32) The righteous know what is acceptable to God because they have read His word and implemented His will in their lives - not perfectly - but consistently.
YHVH asked Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” (GENESIS 4:7) The apostle James was inspired to write about what it means to ‘do well’: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” (JAMES 2:8,9) And how do we become empowered to ‘do well”? Paul tells us: “ “He (Christ) condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (ROMANS 8:4) When a Christian is tempted or provoked to wrath, if he or she yields to God’s Spirit at that moment, sin will not occur - but rather ‘doing well’ - as one returns evil with good, and temptation with contentment & charity.
This is why the apostle Paul was inspired by God to write: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (ROMANS 12:1,2)
The apostle Peter wrote: “But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” (ACTS 10:35)
James sums it all up in this lone definition of the Biblical religion: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (JAMES 1:27 NIV) Looking after orphans and widows is an expression of godly love, and avoiding being polluted by this world’s ideas and practices, is an expression of holiness and truth.
Let us all follow King David’s approach: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” (PSALM 19:14)