To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. Ephesians 1:6
A Gospel preacher who had moved into a new city was deeply moved by the desperate need of lost souls all around him. This drove him to his knees to pray for God to move among the people. He prayed for God to lead the people to read his invitations and tracts; he prayed for God to stir up people to come and hear the Gospel messages; he prayed for God to convict people of their sin and turn to Christ. He prayed for God to give him effective messages, and for the Holy Spirit to work effectively as he preached. Then one day as he prayed, he paused to consider our text today, and realized that as he was pleading for God to do something, he was forgetting to thank God for what had already been done. He was like the apostle Paul reminding the Ephesians that everything needed to make themselves acceptable to God has already been provided.
The religious folks around us have plenty to do. Those who are serious about it make much of their church activities and the services they perform for whatever religious organization they adhere to. There is church doctrine to learn, prayers to make, Scripture to read, along with various approved and recommended books. Fundraising activities and financial contributions are high on the list of must-do items. Those who are really serious will strive to work their way up through the ranks to positions of responsibility and privilege. All of this activity is designed for a single purpose: to win enough of God’s favour to merit acceptance by God and admission to Heaven. For such a system, striving is important because there is no way to tell when enough merit is achieved. The Bible does not support such a system, declaring that our salvation is not by works of righteousness which we have done. Religious works have absolutely no merit. All of that effort goes for nothing, as we had to learn before we could be saved. Even if it had mer5it, it wouldn’t have been worth our while, because all of the work has already been done; all of the merit has already been provided.
God’s love is unconditional and infinite. Contrary to religious belief, God does not love us in proportion to our love for Him. He does not extend His love toward us by any measure or qualification; His love is directed toward us in all its fulness. In the same way, we do not need to earn or contribute to the forgiveness of our sins. God declares us forgiven according to His mercy, not according to our worth. As Christians, we do not need to plead with God to fill us with the Holy Spirit. No, that was fully accomplished when we were saved. Why do we have all of these spiritual blessings? Because we are accepted in the Beloved. As soon as we trusted Christ, all of that which He offers was fully ours. And our victory is assured, because He won the victory for us at Calvary.
We are accepted in the Beloved. The more we realize what this means, the more we enter into all that God has for us. -Jim MacIntosh