Acceptance Precedes Performance
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” -Romans 15:7
We have a performance complex in the world today. We tend to believe that we are accepted for what we do, not for who we are. Business works this way. Politics works this way. It’s hard to focus on accepting the “who” versus the “do”, since in work situations the “do” is essential for success and profit.
But what about you and me? Are we only accepted for what we do or don’t do in life? Unfortunately we will end up in depression or some other extreme behavior if we continue to believe this lie.
The truth is that God loves and accepts us before we do anything. This truth is often easy to forget. Many times in family life and upbringing, even though this should be an unconditional place of love and growth, love is based on our performance. So, as we grow up, we learn that as we do well, we get more love. But if we mess up or do the wrong thing, (or things those people don’t want us to do), love is withheld.
We must understand that acceptance precedes our performance. If not, we will become either gods in our own eyes if we meet those expectations, or else we will fall into despair because we are not perfect and cannot meet them. We need to instead strive to please the “audience of one,” our heavenly Father himself.
Everyone wants to be loved for who they are. Do you feel loved for who you are today? Do you know without a doubt that God loves and accepts you for who He made you to be? Are you able to express this type of love (agape) to others? I pray that we will continue to realize how much our Heavenly Father loves us, in spite of and before anything we try to do to be successful.
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