Every one of us is born with a God-given need for acceptance. How do we know? It’s because the unconditional love of God is acceptance. That’s why we not only need it, we crave it.
The original prototype of Adam and Eve speaks to this on a human level. Before they sinned, they experienced fellowship with the entire Trinity. We know this from Genesis 2:7. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. The phrase “breath of life” reveals something marvelous.
“Breath” most often means “spirit” in Hebrew which is reference to God being spirit. “Life” in the Hebrew language is plural so that it means “lives”, a reference for the Trinity. God not only breathed oxygen into Adam, He breathed Himself into Adam so that he could be united with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The result? Adam had been invited into the love, acceptance, joy, and laughter of the Trinity and so are we!
Adam experienced God’s acceptance with no work on his own to achieve this. It was a gift. When Eve was made from his side, she, too, had God living in her and experienced God’s acceptance. Let’s not miss something very important here. Being fully accepted by God, Adam and Eve fully accepted each other. There was zero rejection from God or each other.
However, when they sinned, all of that was replaced with rejection. God could no longer live in them so they felt His rejection though He still loved them. The natural consequence was that Adam and Eve began to reject each other. Even today, God loves everyone in the world but He cannot accept them fully until they are in Christ. In our relationships, we will struggle with accepting others if we have any doubts about God’s acceptance of us. So much so that one of the greatest fears of every human is the fear of rejection. How about you? Do you fear rejection? If so, how do you cope with it? Here are seven ways.
- Withdrawing from people to stop the hurt
- Crawling into a dark corner feeling depressed and defeated
- Verbally fighting back with anger to prove the other person is wrong about you
- Developing a wall of indifference so you will not feel people’s rejection
- Using addiction to numb the pain of rejection
- Performing for God’s acceptance through legalism
- Performing for certain people’s acceptance
We need to realize that when it comes to God’s acceptance, Jesus, the last Adam, made it possible for us to be reunited with the Trinity through His life, death, burial, resurrection, and our union with Him in those. How is this possible since we know we don’t measure up enough to be blessed like this? It’s because Jesus measured up for us and we get the credit in Him. In Him, we are so forgiven our Father will never reject us. In Him, we are such complete new creations, we are 100% righteous in Him. It’s because In Him, our Father’s love for us has been poured out into our new hearts. The best part is we can’t mess this up. This is one of the great messages of Christianity that sets it apart from every cult and false religion. We need to embrace this truth!
Being confident we are unconditionally accepted by God in Christ, gives us the ability to accept ourselves and to let that acceptance flow out to others. God’s acceptance also gives us a refuge of comfort when we feel rejected by someone.
Would you pray right now thanking God for His unconditional acceptance of you in Christ, even if you don’t feel like it? It’s one of the best gifts from Him you can unwrap by faith for yourself and others.
