Often times it can feel that God cannot accept us because of what we've done in the past and who we have become. However, the Bible makes it clear to us that because of what Christ has done for us on the cross, we are now accepted not just as slaves but as sons and daughters.
Arguably one of the most popular parables in the Bible is the parable of the lost son. A wayward son takes half of his father's possessions and squanders it on meaningless pleasures. After losing all he has, the son decides to return home to his father as a slave but is accepted still as a son.
We all know this story, but do we see it to be true in our life? We are like the lost son who has maligned, spat on and insulted God with our sinful ways, but when we return to the Father, He accepts us still. So many times we are also like the son in that we try to earn back God's favour by choosing to return as a slave, but God insists that we have not yet lost our sonship.
Colossians 1:13-14 tells us, "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Through the work of Jesus Christ, we have received full redemption in the eyes of the Father and it does not matter how ugly your past is. Your past can be so ugly that your family would disown you, but God in- all His love and mercy- would still call you His own.
That is how wide and how deep the love of the Father is- that He would exchange the worth of His own Son for dogs like us so that we would receive the identity of Jesus' holy being. Psalm 139:14 says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
God is proud of everything that we are, not because of anything that we've done, but because when He looks at us He sees Jesus Christ and the sinless life that He lived. We are accepted fully because of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. No matter what your past may be and how ashamed of it you are, God is not ashamed of you. He calls you His child, His friend, His prize and His beloved.
In Romans 15:7 Paul says, "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."
