The Acceptance in the Vine
Throughout history, Father God has continuously pursued his people. Beautifully expressed in the first chapter of Ephesians is God’s attitude towards us.
‘For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves’ (Eph 1:4).
Tragically however, seeking God’s attention from a default position of ‘I’m not good enough’ is quite common. Unconsciously, we feel that God's attitude is either rejecting or threatening. Where might this come from?
When a child’s need for love and attention is not meet, the child ends up judging ‘self’ as unacceptable or unworthy of love. In order to gain acceptance and attention, performance or ‘acting’ becomes the solution, forming a faulty identity. This results in an orphaned and rejected spirit that is never at peace. Something extraordinary is required to turn this around.
Jesus said, ‘…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (Jn 10:10). Christ offers a new default position for life. It is He, not the self, which determines acceptability. His love, attention, and acceptance are part of this new default. By surrendering the inner conflict that wrestles with this truth, peace and contentment are able to enter the soul.
God completely restores identity by his total acceptance and attention. He pours ‘…out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Rom 5:5). God wants us to experience His reality, and impart into us everything he is, and everything we are in him.
The Father is the gardener, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. We are not the source of life, but the recipients of His Life and Love that flows into us by the Holy Spirit (Jn 15:1-8). It is in Christ that'...we live and move and have our being', bearing good fruit that lasts (Acts 17:28).
Do you find yourself in the vine of His Life and Love?
