September 23, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"Accepted in the beloved." — Ephesians 1:6 · KJV

What a state of privilege this is! It includes our justification before God, but the word "acceptance" in the Greek means more than that: it signifies that we are the objects of divine favor — nay, even of divine delight. How marvelous that we — worms, mortals, sinners — should be the objects of divine love! But it is only "in the Beloved." Some Christians seem to be accepted in their own experience — at least, that is how they take it. When their spirit is lively and their hopes bright, they think God accepts them, for they feel so high, so heavenly-minded, so drawn above the earth; but when their souls cleave to the dust, they fall victim to the fear that they are no longer accepted. If they could only see that all their high joys do not exalt them, and all their low despondencies do not really lower them in their Father's sight — that they stand accepted in One who never alters, in One who is always the beloved of God, always perfect, always without spot or wrinkle or any such thing — how much happier they would be, and how much more they would honor the Savior! Rejoice, then, believer, in this: you are accepted "in the Beloved." You look within and say, "There is nothing acceptable here"; but look at Christ, and see if there is not everything acceptable there. Your sins trouble you, but God has cast your sins behind His back, and you are accepted in the Righteous One. You have to fight with corruption and wrestle with temptation, but you are already accepted in Him who has overcome the powers of evil. The devil tempts you; be of good cheer, he cannot destroy you, for you are accepted in Him who has broken Satan's head. Know your glorious standing by full assurance. Even glorified souls are no more accepted than you are; they too are accepted in heaven only "in the Beloved," and you, even now, are accepted in Christ in the very same way.