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.