in a previous post we said our two greatest needs are love and acceptance and work and value you probably noticed I mentioned four needs, but we lumped love and acceptance together and worth and valiue together. But (in this writer’s opinion), acceptance is the greatest of all our needs by a country mile.
Acceptance is the nucleus of all our relationships, from the most intimate of marital relationships to our acquaintances on the fringes of our sphere of influence..
As a curious adolescent teenage boy I craved my dad’s acceptance. I don’t believe I ever got it. There were isolated incidence where he showed pride in some accomplishment of mine that I took as acceptance but those times were few and far between. Our relationship was adversarial until after I’d become a father myself.
My friend Daniel (Webster) describes acceptance as a “state of being desired or wanted, belonging, or having worth.” if we don’t feel acceptance in our lives, we may try to find it in a gang or a cult. We may seek acceptance in unsavory places or with unsavory people or social outcasts–anywhere or with anyone who engenders those feelings that make us feel desired or gives us a sense of belonging no matter how toxic or unhealthy the relationship,.
My friend Daniel (Webster) describes acceptance as a “state of being desired or wanted, belonging, or having worth.” if we don’t feel acceptance in our lives, we may try find it in a gang or a cult. We may seek acceptance in unsavory places or with unsavory people or social outcasts–anywhere or with anyone who engenders those feelings that make us feel desired or gives us a sense of belonging no matter how toxic,unhealthy, or harmful the relationship is.
Feelings of acceptance from friends and loved ones is central to our true identity in Christ. Feeling truly accepted by Christ and accepting others as Christ sees them are essential for knowing and living out of our true identity in Christ.
More on acceptance in future posts.
For His Glory 