Monday; May 13

What does it mean to “accept” someone? We live in a time in which people demand to be accepted. Like me or not, you have no choice but to accept me. In essence, you have to take me as I am or I am going to become angry or offended. Isn’t it interesting, that there is less emphasis on being acceptable than the demand to be accepted.

I guess I can understand where this is coming from. I realize that throughout the years the “haves” or the “cool kids” may have set the standard for acceptance and have left a lot of people out in the cold. Understandably, this does alienate some, but does that mean that everyone doing anything is automatically okay?

What would happen if we changed our perspective from accepting everything to respecting everyone? It wouldn’t be the actions that would tolerated, rather it would be innate human value that would be appreciated. Even if there was something that someone did that we found unacceptable, we could still value them as a human being.

God’s love for humans did not get in His way of mandating appropriate actions; however, on the other hand, human frailties didn’t cause Him to care about people less. In fact, we are reminded, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). When we love like God loves, we can still show standards, but never lose a heart for humanity.

Think About It!

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