Accepted in the Beloved: The Security of God’s Acceptance
Rev. Aniekan "Mbomboyo" Okokon ·
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. — Ephesians 1:6
Most people spend their lives seeking acceptance and never feel they have quite got it. A parent's, a spouse's, a boss's, a crowd's - each is conditional, and each can be withdrawn. Into that hunger the Gospel says something no human acceptance can: you have been accepted in the Beloved. Not on your own merits. In His.
Whose acceptance it is
The Beloved is Christ. The Father said of Him at the Jordan, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." That verdict has never wavered and never will. And Paul says you have been placed in Him, so that the Father's acceptance of the Son is the Father's acceptance of you. It is not that God tolerates you for Jesus' sake. It is that He looks at you in Jesus and is well pleased.
Why it cannot be lost
Your acceptance is exactly as secure as Christ's. For God to reject you, He would have to reject His Son, in whom you are. He will not. That is the whole security of the believer, and it rests on nothing you did and nothing you can undo.
What it does to fear
- Fear of God's disappointment loses its ground. He is not disappointed with the Beloved.
- Fear of people loosens. When the highest court has ruled, the lower ones matter less.
- Fear of failure shrinks. Failure is a fact about your week, not about your standing.
What it does to worship
Paul says all this is "to the praise of the glory of his grace". Secure acceptance does not make believers careless. It makes them worshippers, because a person who knows he is accepted in the Beloved cannot help being glad about it, and gladness that looks at God is called praise.
Accept one another
Romans 15:7 turns it outward: "Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you." People who are secure in their own acceptance can afford to accept others. The church that knows Ephesians 1:6 becomes a place where nobody has to earn their seat. That is what it looks like when the security of God's acceptance reaches the ground.