All of us have experienced rejection. Rejection is a powerful weapon against our self-worth. Rejection can breed thoughts of inadequacy, hopelessness, anger, bitterness, fear and depression. Whether the rejection has been on the playground at school, from a romantic interest, from a potential employer or from parents, rejection can cause great damage in how we see ourselves and our value to others.
Rejection is the soil in which unbelief grows. Each time we experience a rejection the potential for doubt and unbelief increases. How can you have faith in life, others or yourself when you believe you are unlovely, incapable or inadequate in some way? The seeds of rejection produce the harvest of failure. Our identity becomes tied to the rejections we have experienced and we set our expectations in life according to the memory of the rejections we carry in our hearts. This is nothing more than bondage and oppression.
This same attitude we often carry into our relationship with God. If others don’t like us, why would God? As a result it is difficult if not impossible to enjoy a loving, trusting relationship with the Father. He sees all of our faults and is more aware of all of our weaknesses than anyone else! Why should we expect anything good from Him?
Listen to this: “to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6)
Are there words that can describe what Paul just said? In Ephesians 1, Paul declared that God has blessed us (v. 3), He has chosen us to be without blame before Him in love (v4), He has predetermined that we are sons and daughters in His family (not slaves or orphans) (v5), and by grace He has made us accepted! (v6) This is the nearly too good to be true Good News!
The Greek meaning of the word ‘accepted’ is: to make graceful, charming, lovely, agreeable, to surround with favor and to honor with blessings. Wow!
Before you were ever conceived God knew you and chose to love you and accept you. You may have been picked last on the playground, but you are first in the heart of God. You may not have Hollywood looks, but you couldn’t look any better to God. You are unique. There is no one like you. You have divine potential and a divine purpose in this world. You are accepted!
If you can get your heart wrapped around this, faith will spring forth. When we know that there is no chance of rejection we can believe the promises, enjoy the fellowship, see our potential and have peace. How did we come to be accepted?
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)
Certainly these are some of the most beautiful words ever written. The Spirit of God inspired Isaiah and revealed the depth of God’s love for man, a love so profound that it was willing to give His Son (and the Son was willing to give Himself) in order to restore us to our original place in Him. We are accepted, not rejected!
Jesus understood our grief, sickness, pain and trauma. He understood the devastating power of sin that has created darkness and suffering for humanity. Not only did He understand, He came to walk among us and demonstrate His love and compassion for the hurting. But He didn’t come only to see and touch man’s need. He came to take upon Himself the curse of our separation from God and all its manifestations. He took the iniquity of every person on earth, every person who would ever be conceived. He took our physical pain and sicknesses. He took our depression, sadness and fears. He took the full weight of every curse of sin. In fact, He became a curse and He became sin as He hung on the cross.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
The invitation is for all. Rest and peace are for all. Healing is for all. Deliverance from every trauma and grief are for all. Jesus did this for you.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)
Grace is God’s supply for every need you have. Grace is His blessings, His sufficiency, His strength and His enabling. We could say that grace is God’s divine provision for every level of life, spirit, soul and body. And who gets to access this grace and live the abundant life? We do. We have been accepted in the Beloved!
~Barry Bennett
Barry, a graduate of Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas, has been serving the Lord since 1972. He and his wife, Betty Kay, have served on the mission field in Mexico, Guatemala, and in Chile, where they spent almost 12 years before returning to Texas in 2001. While attending a large Spanish-speaking congregation in Carrollton, Texas, Barry was the director and principle teacher at a Spanish language Bible institute, Instituto Avance, where he served for five years. The Bennetts also spent two and a half years ministering to Cambodian refugees in Dallas, and they have ministered in home groups, churches and on short-term mission teams. Barry came to Andrew Wommack Ministries in 2007, and worked in the Phone Center as a prayer minister before accepting a position answering the scriptural and doctrinal questions which would come to the ministry via mail and email. Today, Barry serves as the Dean of Students and as an instructor at Charis Bible College Colorado. Barry is passionate about teaching the practical truths of God’s word. www.barrybennett.org
