“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Rev 3:20).
A certain student desparately wanted to get into a top elite school. One person advised him that he might not survive the competetion there. Nonetheless he insisted. No sooner had he got there than he realised his mistake. Everyone, starting with the teachers, were all talking above him. He struggled to catch up but it was a futile battle. He failed to make the grades to be promoted.
When he dropped out he decided to join a less competetive school. Immediately he noticed this school accepted him for what he was. It embraced his average marks and started working with him from that point. No longer under pressure to perform the way the last elite school was, he flourished and excelled.This was the right environment he needed all along!
What do the scriptures mean when we are told that our God accepts us as we are! Romans 15:7 says “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God”. There are many relationships where one has to strive to be accepted. In fact, if you fall off the expected standards you are rejected. But here, like this student in a welcoming school, we see Christ accepts as the way we are here. And it is from here that he starts working a new life in us.
This should be an encouragement to everyone. And also, for believers, a caution not to become stumbling blocs, to those who wish to know Christ in earnest, by setting up impossible standards other than, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mathew 11: 28-30).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, what a privilege to know we have a God who accepts us as we are, to begin a new wonderful work in us, and with gratefulness, all this we pray in Jesus’s name.
