Day 1: Accepted in the Beloved

Texts:	Eph 1:6 KJV To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 1Jn 3:1 KJV Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Considerations for today	One characteristic of man is that he is a social being and is always looking for acceptance with people in his circle of interactions. A wife seeks acceptance from her husband and likewise the husband from his wife. Children seek acceptance from their parents and likewise parents from their children. Friends seek acceptance from one another, product and service providers from customers and the list goes on and on. The great desire for acceptance has led people to do desperate things. Some have gone to the extent of harming themselves because they could not find acceptance with certain people. Other manifestations include feelings of inferiority, depression and, at extreme, suicide.  The highest form of acceptance any person could find is to be accepted by the most important person in his sphere of influence. Imagine you receive a call from the president of your nation that you will be having dinner with him tonight because he has heard about you and he likes you. You didn’t believe at the instance but then he sends his ADC to tell you. You still didn’t believe and so the president came himself. All doubts would melt and your celebration would begin. You would wonder to yourself: “what about me has made the president so favourably disposed towards me?” I bet you would want to tell everyone you could that president of the country visited you and you will be having dinner with him tonight. In like manner, the Lord of the entire universe has accepted us without any condition other than believing in the Lord Jesus. As a matter of truth He has accepted us as Jesus the Beloved is accepted. If you can take this: he loves us with the same love with which he loves Jesus. He said this about Jesus: …This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Mat 3:17). It is the same report he has about us because as Jesus is so are we in this world (1Jn 4:17). Now, it doesn’t matter who doesn’t accept us, we are accepted where it really matters, Hallelujah!
Meditation Scriptures	1Jn 3:1-2, 1Jn 4:17, Rom 5:5
Prayer	I thank you Father because I have found acceptance with you. I believe in your love for me and I’m secure in it.
Bible in 1 year	Matt 1 - 4

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