Our Struggle for Acceptance

Everybody wants to be accepted by somebody. We all want someone to like us a lot. We want to be favored. We want to be somebody’s favorite person, and this strong desire shows itself at an early age.

Everybody wants to be accepted by somebody.

In elementary and middle school,you do all sorts of things to get other children to like you. You pretend tolike the same things as other children (even if you don’t). You brag about yourtoys and your Walt Disney vacation. You take strange dares. You even resort toodd tactics like announcing that your fingers are double (or triple) jointedand flipping your eyelids inside out.

Later in junior high, you discoverthe opposite gender. Boys want a girl to like them and girls (sometimes) want aboy to like them, so you step up your game. You try to “dress to impress.” Youlook for opportunities to show off your skills and be polite. You make lots ofawkward comments and talk down your competition – only to be rejected many times.

The Struggle is Over

Fast forward through high-schooland college to the experience of marriage. What makes a wedding special? It announcesto the world that two people have finally been accepted. After years of doubtand rejection, the struggle and search for acceptance has ended. One man haschosen his favorite woman and one woman has chosen her favorite man.

A wedding is special for another reason, too. It illustrates the gospel. You may already know that this word means “good news.” But do you also know that it’s a word about war?

A wedding illustrates the gospel.

Can you imagine a medieval warscene? Two large armies have been fighting since dawn. Their arms and legs areweary. Their swords are clashing. The body count is rising, and many others arewounded. As the sun begins to set behind the hills, one side limps into the shadows.

All at once, in a moment ofdramatic silence, the other side realizes they’ve won. A wounded solider, physicallyexhausted but high on adrenalin, runs as fast as his legs can carry him,shouting as he goes, “We won! We won! They enemy is defeated! We won!”

Friends, the battle to beaccepted by God is our greatest struggle. Though we can eventually find someoneto accept us as a friend and a spouse, it’s impossible to win God’s favor.

God is perfectly good, but weare hopelessly bad, and there’s nothing we can do to change that. Since God isso good, then why on earth would wants bad friends like us?

Since God is so good, then why on earth would wants bad friends like us?

Still, we try all sorts ofthings to get his attention. We call these things “good works” and “religion,”and they get us nowhere with God. They amount to nothing more than all thefailed attempts of a junior high kid to get and keep a best friend forever(BFF).

Of course, there are those who insist that there is no God and feel that having a relationship with God is a total waste of time. But being an atheist is like being that kid in school who announces proudly that doesn’t have any friends because he doesn’t need any. Or it’s like that bachelor who insists that he doesn’t need to get married because it’s a waste of money and time. What this really means is that, “I’ve tried and failed enough to know (or I’ve thought about it enough to know) that I cannot be accepted, so I won’t even try,” or, “I won’t keep trying.”

Believing on Jesus

But here’s the good news. The struggle and battle to find acceptance from God has already been won. God’s desire to accept you is so strong that he came into the world himself as Jesus Christ. He lived the perfect life that you could never live, then he died the death that you deserve to die for all your sins – in your place - and rose again.

The struggle and battle to find acceptance from God has already been won.

Jesus went through everything necessaryto remove the barriers that are between you and God. So, you should stop tryingto do that for yourself. Stop pretending like he doesn’t exist and stop tryingto impress him.

Turn to Jesus Christ instead. Accepthim alone for who he is – your God and your Savior. When you turn to him andtrust in him this way, he accepts you. When you do, you will find that he likesyou as much as Jesus. He will love you forever and never let you go.

Marriage isn’t perfect. OnlyGod is. But marriage is a wonderful illustration because it marks the end of astruggle and longing for human acceptance. In this way, it should remind you ofthe gospel – the good news that God has made a way to accept you foreverdespite your sin.

Do you agree that God isthere? Do you need to stop trying to impress him and earn his favor throughwhatever religion you follow? If yes, then do so today. The struggle ends with Jesus.Turn to him and trust in him completely.

“For God so loved the worldthat he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should notperish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

When you believe on Jesus, then you can say this to God along with everyone else who has also believed on him: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6).

There’s nothing better in all the world than finally being accepted by God forever.

There’s nothing better in allthe world than finally being accepted by God forever. In a small but specialway, that’s what a wedding (and marriage) reminds us to consider.