Acceptance
How do we learn to accept those who are different from us?
Accepting others may require us to look at people from a different perspective.
Matthew 9: 11-12 - "When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."
What if a person has committed a terrible sin? Do we still accept him or her?
Nothing we do can separate us from God's love. In the same way, we should always love others. This does not mean we accept or condone their sinful actions; but we love and accept them as unique and special creations of God.
Romans 8: 38-39 - "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Are there times we should not be accepting?
We must not accept or tolerate sin in our own lives. Sin is our enemy, seeking to destroy us. If we are willing to allow any specific sin to dwell in our heart unattended, it will begin to spread like a malignant tumor, affecting all we think and do.
2 Chronicles 34:3-7- "In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images. Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles, the idols and the images. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem. In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them, he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem."
PROMISE FROM GOD: Romans 15:7 - "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."
How do we learn to accept those who are different from us?
Accepting others may require us to look at people from a different perspective.
Matthew 9: 11-12 - "When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."
What if a person has committed a terrible sin? Do we still accept him or her?
Nothing we do can separate us from God's love. In the same way, we should always love others. This does not mean we accept or condone their sinful actions; but we love and accept them as unique and special creations of God.
Romans 8: 38-39 - "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Are there times we should not be accepting?
We must not accept or tolerate sin in our own lives. Sin is our enemy, seeking to destroy us. If we are willing to allow any specific sin to dwell in our heart unattended, it will begin to spread like a malignant tumor, affecting all we think and do.
2 Chronicles 34:3-7- "In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images. Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles, the idols and the images. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem. In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them, he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem."
PROMISE FROM GOD: Romans 15:7 - "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."
