Acceptance
He leads me …
Acceptance - to be accepted is to be received by others in a positive way; to be considered worthy of friendship and respect.
It is something that we all look for from the people around us. To give some idea of the importance of acceptance let us look at a couple of statistics from the workplace in America.
· 79% of people who quit their jobs say that the ‘lack of appreciation’ is their reason for leaving.
· Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work.[1]
According to psychologists, the need to belong (to be accepted) has two parts.
· First, people want some kind of positive regular social contact.
· Second, people want the stable framework of an ongoing relationship where there is a mutual concern for each other.
Both these conditions are needed to fulfil the need to be accepted.
Psychologists say that historically, the early human ability to survive harsh living conditions was determined by living in small groups to work collectively for their mutual benefit. The alternative of experiencing social rejection in these circumstances could quite easily result in the death of the individual.
Social acceptance today is seen as rewarding and satisfying, supporting a positive experience where the group enjoy the advantages of working together as a team.[2]
While this seems logical, we should also look at what the Bible says.
The first reference that we see is in Genesis 2:18 –
And the Lord God said, “It isn’t good for man to be alone; I will make a companion for him, a helper suited to his needs.” (TLB)
We see here that the Lord saw the need for Adam to have companionship and acceptance with another human being.
In Psalm 133:1 David acknowledges the importance of harmony, which includes mutual acceptance -
How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live in harmony! (TLB)
This harmony is shared by everyone involved. Proverbs 18:24 indicates that it is something that we all need to work on, and that there can be situations where some friends accept us completely –
A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (NKJV)
Jesus taught that if we want to be treated well by others, which of course includes acceptance, we should be prepared to be the ones to initiate it –
“Do for others what you want them to do for you. This is the teaching of the laws of Moses in a nutshell.” (TLB)
But as we know, as Christians we also have a relationship with our Heavenly Father. He accepts us as we are, and loves us in spite of our faults. Romans 5:8 says -
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (TLB)
We also see in Hebrews 13:5b an amazing promise from the Lord –
He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,” (NASB)
How is that for total acceptance?
So as believers, what is our response to our Heavenly Father? It is easy when life is going well, and is full of blessings, but the test comes when events do not work out as well as they could.
When we find ourselves in hard times, we should never stop praying for those issues that are important to us, because God has promised that He hears us –
We have such confidence in him that we are certain that he hears every request that is made in accord with his own plan. And since we know that he always gives his attention to our prayers, whatever they are about, we can be quite sure that our prayers will be answered. (1 John 5:15 PHILLIPS).
Even in the darkest circumstances - acceptance lets us rest in the divine tension between continued faith and God’s sovereign plan.[3]
[1] Employee Empowerment in the Workplace: Definition & Best Practices. https://blog.smarp.com/empowerment-in-the-workplace-enable-your-employees
[2] Social Acceptance and Rejection: The Sweet and the Bitter https://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~schaller/308Readings/DeWall2011.pdf
[3] What does the Bible say about acceptance? https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-acceptance.html
