Accepted in the Beloved

"Then Job answered the Lord and said: [2] "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. [3] You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?'  Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. [4] Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, 'I will question you, and you shall answer Me.' [5] "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. [6] Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Job 42:1-6

 

Once a man sees God in truth, his condition becomes a brutal reality.  Job justified himself until God spoke.  When God began to speak, Job had nothing to say.  And after Job heard God and saw Him in His majestic glory, he humbled himself:  "Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."  It was only after Isaiah saw the LORD high and lifted up that he said, "Woe is me!  I am undone, a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips!"  God's purity and holiness shine with such radiance that our greatest works in contrast are as greasy soot smeared upon the whitest linen.  Though Job was wrong for justifying Himself, God accepted Job as His servant because he repented.  Verses 8 and 9 of this chapter emphasize the fact that God had accepted Job.  It was not by works Job had done, but according to God's mercy he was restored and accepted.  This is God's grace preserved forever in history, and the promise of His grace extends for eternity to all who will repent and trust in Him.

 

I read a disturbing article the other day.  The author presented many different "philosophical" problems concerning the existence of hell, a place where God's wrath is poured out in eternal fury upon those who practice sin.  In short, the author did not see sin as sinful.  God's wrath only seems excessive to those who see sin as very small and insignificant.  There is no greater evil than sin, for it was for sin that Christ died!  To atone for a single eternity-damning sin the precious blood of Christ was shed once for all.  There is no forgiveness without repentance, and there is no repentance without conviction, and there is no conviction without the commandment as the last part of Romans 7:13 says: "...so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful."

 

The Holy Spirit was sent by God to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.  Though we live in an age of the Gospel of grace, grace has not trumped the necessity of repentance.  God has always been gracious and we are deceived to think we outgrow repentance with age.  It was Jesus who taught His disciples this doctrine after His resurrection.  Luke 24:46-47 reads:  "Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, [47] and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."  If sin was not sinful, the righteous Messiah would not have suffered and died at the hands of man.  The crucifixion is a tangible scene of the horror and death sin breeds without atonement in a soul.

People have always longed for acceptance.  When Cain's offering was rejected and Abel's accepted by God, Cain was upset.  Genesis 4:7 reveals God's perspective:  "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."  Like Cain, we have all sinned.  We have not done well, and for this we have been denied heaven and a relationship with God.  Yet wonder of wonders! God has extended His grace and acceptance to all through Jesus Christ.  Though we were sinners, Christ died for us!  Ephesians 1:3-6 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, [4] just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, [5] having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, [6] to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved."  Though we are feeble and flawed, according to God's will those who are born again through the Holy Spirit by grace through faith are accepted in the Beloved.  We have been accepted in Christ:  us in Him, and He in us.   

May sin be more and more sinful in our eyes as we follow Christ in faith.  Instead of trampling His sacrifice and favor under our feet, let us be examples of holiness, humility, and meekness.  Acceptance is often gained in human circles through conformity, but with God it is not so:  the only way to acceptance with God is transformation!  Repentance paves the way for becoming born again, and only those who are born again will see the kingdom of God.  To be eternally accepted by our Creator is not just a dream, but both a daily and eternal reality to all who humble themselves and trust in Him.