Acceptance

Christ invited everyone to come to Him. It's in the Bible, Matthew 11:28, NKJV. "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Will Jesus take me back? Will God accept me? It's in the Bible, John 6:37, NKJV. "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."

By His grace, God accepts us in Jesus Christ. It's in the Bible, Ephesians 1:6, NKJV. "to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."

Jesus offers living water to everyone. It's in the Bible, John 7:37-38, NKJV. "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'”

We may come to God with all our weakness, our folly, our sinfulness, and fall at His feet in penitence. It's in the Bible, Isaiah 55:7, NKJV. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

Christ doesn't accept only the righteous and holy; He died for us while we were sinners. It's in the Bible, Romans 5:8, NKJV. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Jesus loves to have us come to Him just as we are, sinful, helpless, dependent. It's in the Bible, Mark 2:17, NKJV. "When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

No matter what our past may have been, God accepts us unconditionally, but He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. It's in the Bible, Ezekiel 18:21-22. “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live."

If we receive Christ, He gives us the right to be called children of God. It's in the Bible, John 1:12, NKJV. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name"

(c) 2024 Banning Seventh-day Adventist Church.