Accepted, Righteous, and Loved Unconditionally

Accepted and Loved

Having Right Standing With God

 

 “^{Eph 2:4} But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

^{Eph 2:5} made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”  

 “^{Tit 3:4} But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,

^{Tit 3:5} he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ^{Tit 3:6} whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ^{Tit 3:7} so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” 

 

^{“2Co 5:21} God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

 

God, The Amazing Lover

Jesus! What a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Refrain

Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.

Hymn – Words by J. Wilbur Chapman, Music by Rowland H. Pritchard. 1830 and Revised in 1910. Public Domain.

I have Good News for you. God loves messed up, needy, and sinful people, despite their faults. God loves and adores dysfunctional and broken people who have made a mess of their lives. He is the healer of broken lives and wants to make you whole because He is so in love with you. When I say that, I mean God IS CRAZY ABOUT YOU! He’s madly in love with you, and longs for you. That’s right He’s madly in love with you! He is head over heals in love with you. He is wild about you, crazy about you, and love crazed over you.  Do you do bad things? Are you a sinner? God loves you; He absolutely adores you and wants to embrace you, give you a bear hug, kiss you on the neck, and dress you in royal robes! You are precious to Him and He delights in you, yes you. God loves you just the way you are, sin and all. God loves us just as we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us in the lost state we are in. He longs to give us life, freedom and joy!

 

He can make us whole and holy. Understand, this is an invitational love to come to Him through Jesus so He can be your Father (Abba, Daddy, and Papa – using Biblical terms). Look at this Bible verse that shows God loves sinners, “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’” (1 Timothy 1:15, NLT). This is an invitation to come to Jesus and then have a relationship with your Heavenly Father. Then after (and only after) that, His Spirit comes inside of us and we learn to quit doing things our own way and let Jesus be Lord of our life; for Him to be our guide, our strength, our help, and our lover. But it happens by faith alone in Christ alone. We simply trust Jesus to save us and He does. He cleanses us and gives us new life.

Jesus will live inside of you and give you an “abundant life” of joy, love, and peace (John 10:10). It is like the marriage covenant. Jesus is the most loving groom ever and we get to be His bride.  He wants to forgive you, liberate you from your addictions, and even free you from your bondage to sin, and have a relationship with you; just so He can lavish you with love and with a great & passionate affection!! And He will cause you to not only be loved, but to love God and love man as well (with His kind of Love).

 

But He loves you now, just as you are; a sinner. He loves you! God loves you! You may be a drug dealer, murderer, liar, or rapist but God loves you and is saying, “Come to me and let me love you, cleanse you, heal you, and make you into something beautiful. Let my love and life fill your heart.” When you run to God by faith in Christ, you will find He isn’t mad at you but will embrace you, love you, and fill you with His Spirit.

      Are you ready? We can simply bow our knee to Jesus and say, “Ok You’re the boss now (Lord) and I trust you to save me and put myself in your hands. I believe you right now have washed away all my sins, and God has forgiven me. Please come live inside of me and make me the person you want me to be.” The words don’t matter but this is just a simple way of expressing your faith in Jesus in order to get the free gift of salvation (justification). In His book The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning Defined Justification when he said that, "justification by grace through faith means that I know myself accepted by God as I am.”  He explains, "Genuine self-acceptance is not derived from the power of positive thinking, mind games, or pop psychology. It is an act of faith in the grace of God alone.” - Brennan Manning

 

     It requires a decision. Do you want to be forgiven and return to The God Who loves you. It is as simple as just believing in Jesus. Run to Jesus and Jesus will put you in The Father’s arms to nestle and to be loved on. The reformers used to say, “We are saved by faith alone in Christ alone.” It’s true and you can receive “eternal life” (forgiveness, power to live righteously, and have God come fill your heart with His love and His everyday friendship). Just believe and receive it. And we can stand on God’s Promise that He will take you back as His beloved forever safe in His Arms.

In the movie “Luther”, Martin Luther was taught a prayer by his mentor that signified his believing in Jesus for salvation, his placing his faith in Christ for eternal life. I still say it is the best prayer I’ve ever heard. It goes like this, “I’m yours Jesus save me.” It’s that simple, “I’m yours Jesus save me.” ⁴ You can pray to Jesus right now as a way of expressing your faith in Jesus. Say those words, “I’m Yours save me”, and He will save you. It is that simple. Just trust Him.

 

Oh and you men and women who are already Christians; God is NOT mad at you. He is pleased with you and loves you. Romans 5:1 says, “^{Ro 5:1} Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Did you get that? We have peace. The war is over. The penalty has been paid. The debt for all sins has already been paid. And you are justified! That means God sees Jesus’ perfect righteousness when He looks at you. And we all know that God The Father is Pleased with Jesus. So you have peace with God.

Some of you are asking but where do works come in? What about The Book of James what it says about works and faith? I will address that in the next Blog. But for now you need to know that God is not mad at you but pleased with you, because Jesus has made you pleasing to Him.