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Date Posted: 22:00:24 07/28/03 Mon
Author: Cheri
Subject: ACCEPTED!

ACCEPTED!
_________________________

John 15:1-11 (NRSV)

[Jesus said,] "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."

_________________________

Jesus said, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you."

- John 15:9 (NRSV)

_________________________

LIKE most people at one time or another, I have struggled to feel accepted. Because I was the only stepchild in my family, I never felt like a real member. School was another area of struggle where I often faced rejection. But late in my high school years I found a form of acceptance: I fell in with the "party" crowd.

Unfortunately, many people still seek that false kind of acceptance, whether it comes from smoking marijuana or from drinking excessively with others in a crowded bar. They find no real acceptance but merely intoxication to deaden the pain of rejection.

Hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ brought me my first glimpse of real acceptance. Christ loved me enough to pay the penalty for my sin. I realized that Christ loved me as I was and that there were no conditions on his love. Furthermore, my past years of feeling rejected in no way hindered the fact that Christ accepted me -- and still does.

Many times the rejection we face has nothing to do with what we have done. In the same way, our acceptance in Christ is not based on our actions. It is based on his love alone -- we cannot earn it. Realizing we are loved by Christ, we are free to love and accept others in his name.


Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your grace and for the true acceptance
we have through you. Amen.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

Because of Christ, we are accepted by God.


-- Thomas R. Fletcher (West Virginia, U.S.A.)


PRAYER FOCUS: Someone who feels unaccepted
_________________________




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Replies:

[> Monday's Scripture.....And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 -- Cheri, 22:18:01 07/28/03 Mon


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[> Tuesday's Scripture.....When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Proverbs 16:7 -- Cheri, 20:30:14 07/30/03 Wed


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[> Wednesday's Scripture.....If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11 -- Cheri, 20:35:23 07/30/03 Wed


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[> Thursday's Scripture.....Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. Zephaniah 1:7 -- Cheri, 21:09:25 08/02/03 Sat


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[> Friday's Scripture.....For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38,39 -- Cheri, 21:15:31 08/02/03 Sat


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