"Accepted Of Him"
7)
(For we walk by faith, not
by sight:)
8)
We are confident, I say,
and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9)
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted
of him.
10)
For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done
in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
11)
Knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I
trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
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too often, we do things that we should not in order to be accepted. This means,
then, that we omit doing some necessary
things. Because we seek the favor of Man, we fail to see that it is the favor
of God that we should covet.
The
greatest and most profitable thing that we should do for ourselves is to get
baptized in Jesus' name and filled with the Holy Ghost. In general, this is the
last thing that most people come to or are willing to do. It is, indeed, His acceptance and His approval that all
mankind needed to seek and it is the same that all of the redeemed should
desire.
Men
crave acceptance from all manner of men, including (but not limited to)
friends, relatives and colleagues. Particularly, in these "last
days," so many things are "passed off" as representing holiness
that men actually seem not to recognize the difference between what is
acceptable and unacceptable. Unfortunately, this will not be acceptable as an excuse, for we can know who is pleasing to the Lord by
how his life is progressing. In the same way, on our "day of reckoning," we too, will know our status as
we stand before Him. We will know by whether or not He is pleased.
The
question left to be answered is: "How, exactly, does one come to be
accepted of Him?" All that anyone must do to be approved God is to make
sure that all that he does is approved by
God. We have been greatly deceived by an Enemy who believes in getting us to
believe in our personal "worth". This, of course, causes us to
believe that we have a right to lay
out our path and "chart our own course". We are most blessed when we
finally come to the point where we see that we are here to do nothing but offer
our "vessel" as a mouthpiece of God.
Why
does Jesus think that He has the right to ask for our lives? Because He gave
His when we were not even aware of Him! When we make the decision to take upon
ourselves His identity, we automatically become responsible for that image.
Because that image embodies righteousness, holiness and separateness, He
expects the same from us. When we choose to follow our own direction, we are
unable to fulfill our responsibility of representation.
Self-direction translates to "no
self-control" which translates to sin.
We
live in a nation and amongst a people and world which is very visually
oriented. Whatever we want to see, we can. Therefore, those being born
into the kingdom (as well as those without) are eager to see what God is doing. As opposed to the Lord setting miracles
amongst us to be used as "glitz," He makes us the miracles that men might have walking
proof of Who He is. In that we become the "visible Lord," it
is imperative that the movement of our lives be dictated by and therefore,
acceptable to, Him.
It
is not inconsequential to the Lord what we do, how we do it and why we do it
(as the saints of the Most High). We will have to answer for every deed done in these bodies. We,
along with everyone else, will stand
before the judgment seat of Christ. Those of us judged as saved will be rewarded for the right that we will be found having
done. Those not "making the cut" will be penalized for their wrong.
The time to be prepared for heaven is now. If, here on this earth, we can keep nothing secure, do we really think that the
Lord will entrust us with overseeing a new earth?
There
is really no way to come out at the top of this life but to embrace the
purpose of God. The people of God have operated for so long for themselves
and "their Holy Ghost" that most are not even aware that there is
a problem. If any of us really intend to be "accepted of Him" we are going to have to prove a sacrifice for Him.