Accepted

To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 

Ephesians 1:6 NKJV

A man shows up at a fancy restaurant in a t-shirt and shorts, flip-flops clicking across the fine porcelain floors.  Unshaven and unbathed the tramp walks up to the hostess and asks for a table.  She tells Him that he cannot be seated.  When he asks why, assuring her that he has the ability to pay, she says it isn’t that he can’t pay, it’s that he is not dressed appropriately.  Even if he were to have the proper attire she assures him that they would never allow him to dine there looking unshaven and smelling like sweat.  The only solution is that the man be made fully acceptable.  He must have the proper clothes.  He must be bathed and he must be shaven. This example is only a feint picture of what has gone on between us and God the Father in the person of Jesus Christ.  We cannot even begin to understand what it means to be acceptable before God.  Scripture assures us that we were totally unacceptable before God for a number of reasons.  Not simply because of our hair or our clothes, but because of something far deeper.  God is, as a part of His character, fully righteous and cannot have fellowship with any who are not righteous.  We, far from having any righteousness of our own, have only unrighteousness to our name.  The only way we can ever be acceptable to Him, is as we are placed in His perfect Son, Jesus Christ.

Any Day Now...

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

April is now approaching her due date.  Any day now our new son or daughter will be born into this world.  I am starting to get to the point where I jump every time April coughs.  Labor is imminent and anticipation is high.  It makes me think of the reality of the imminent return of Christ.  Every believer is to be comforted and encouraged by the fact that our Lord could return for us at any time.  At any moment we could be face to face with the Savior who loved us and gave Himself up for us.  It places a great value on the present moment, and brings our trials into perspective.  Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Established

"Dear believer, the blessing is indeed within your reach.  He who establishes you with us in Christ is God.  What I want you to take in is this:  Believing the promise will not only give you comfort but will also be the means of obtaining your desire.  You know how Scripture teaches us that in all God's leadings with His people faith has everywhere been the one condition for seeing His power manifested.  Faith is the ceasing from all our natural efforts and all other dependence; faith is confessed helplessness casting itself upon God's promise and claiming its fulfillment; faith is putting ourselves quietly into God's hands for Him to do His work.  What you and I need now is to take time, until this truth stands out before us in all  its spiritual brightness:  It is God Almighty, God the Faithful and Gracious One, who has undertaken to establish me in Christ Jesus."
-Andrew Murray Abiding in Christ

Knowing and Knowing About

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 

Philippians 3:10 NASB

I enjoy biographies.  Reading about the lives of people who changed history.  Learning about their habits, actions, idiosyncrasies, and abilities simply fascinates me.  However, as much as I can know about a person in a biography I will never know them through such reading. Through our faith, through reading the Bible, through prayer and through Christian fellowship, we are not just learning about God, we are coming to know God.  This is all given in Scripture in the context of relationship.  Knowing Him as the Shepherd, The Savior, Friend, Master, Bridegroom and Father.  May this year be marked by more intimately knowing the God who knows us perfectly.