I WENT out to water my plants the other day and noticed that one of my hanging baskets was not looking to well. Its leaves, delicate branches and flowers were rather sickly looking. I got the ladder and climbed up for a closer inspection. What I found was a weed, a rather healthy weed. It was also a sneaky weed, as its foliage looked a lot like the plant in distress and was not easily detected without close inspection. How it got there I’m not sure, although the birds like to frequent my many hanging baskets. The blue jays often hide nuts in them and the mourning doves frequently make nests in them as well. I assume one of these feathered friends delivered a little weed seed in their visit amongst the flowers. …Anyway, this weed had taken root, doing what weeds do best, suck up moisture and nutrients needed to sustain a flowering plant. I’ve also discovered that weeds can even give off toxins that poison the soil. I always find it interesting that we don’t need to plant “weeds,” they just are, and left unattended will just grow and proliferate. But that which is of more value to eye for beauty or fruit needs to find cultivated and prepared soil, to be planted, receive constant tending and care, and be protected from life threatening weeds, contamination, and disease.
I CAREFULLY extracted the weed, making sure I got all of its entangling roots, not without some unavoidable injury to the plant. But now as I look up, after a few cycles of watering and feeding, the plant appears to be restored to a healthy and happy condition. And so again, another lesson from the garden and reminder: Look carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. (Heb. 12:15)
OKAY, with that little side bar, it is now time to proceed with our study in the Principles of Spiritual Growth. Having already looked at Faith and The Principle of Time, next up is the aspect of Acceptance.
I REMEMBER when I first discovered this principle. What peace and joy it brought to my heart and mind. Since my youth I’d always struggled with a sense of insecurity, a lack of belonging. There were a number of things that contributed to this, but I need not rehearse them for this discussion. But I do believe that we all, at one time or another, look for and need a place of comfort and safety, a place where we feel like we belong. “Being accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6) was a treasured discovery of a verse when I first learned its meaning and implications. Over the years I’ve often recalled Ephesians 1:6 to mind when trouble or anxiety necessitated a resting place for my disquieted heart. Acceptance is a valued principle.
NOW starting this third chapter in this first section of The Complete Green Letters, Principles of Spiritual Growth, we come to the subject of Acceptance. May the Lord draw you near to Himself in the truth of His eternal Word, establishing you in another vital principle for spiritual growth.
In the wondrous blessings of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa. 30:15 & Job 2:10
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Chapter 3—Acceptance
There are two questions that every believer must settle as soon as possible. The one is, Does God fully accept me? and the second, If so, upon what basis does He do so? This is crucial. What devastation often permeates the life of one, young or old, rich or poor, saved or unsaved, who is not sure of being accepted, even on the human level.
Yet so many believers, whether “strugglers” or “vegetators,” move through life without this precious fact to rest and build on: “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:5, 6).
Every believer is accepted by the Father, in Christ. “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). The peace is God’s toward us, through His beloved Son—on this our peace is to be based. God is able to be at peace with us through our Lord Jesus Christ, “having made peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20). And we must never forget that His peace is founded solely on the work of the cross, totally apart from anything whatsoever in or from us, since “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
Our faith becomes a fixed attitude once it begins to rest in this wonderful fact. ….to be continued
