Is acceptance the same as approval?

I love and accept my children as they are, flawed and imperfect. I even delight in them. I seek to come alongside them to ensure that they are growing in the right direction. They are welcomed to share their needs, struggles and problems with me. I seek to rejoice when they rejoice and mourn when they mourn.

They also have my approval because I recognize that they are walking in the Light of Christ’s presence and seeking to honor Him.

If, for some reason, they were to rebel against God, or against us, their parents, would I still accept them? Absolutely I would! But I wouldn’t approve of their choices.

Acceptance and approval are distinctly different things. We can extend reception and warmth, even love, without placing our agreement upon someone’s behavior.

Acceptance implies that I am welcomed as I am. Approval declares that I have the esteem and the endorsement of the one looking on me. So, how can I be sure that the Father not only accepts me, but also approves of me—right now?

I may know and believe I have been cleansed of my past sins, but does that mean that the Father approves of me TODAY?

We know that those who believe on Christ Jesus are accepted because of Jesus’s atoning sacrifice. Perhaps the prerequisite to approval is not how I feel or think about what the Father thinks of me. When we search the Scriptures, we read of the acceptance and approval of ALL those who are in Christ. So, it seems the central question is, “Am I in Christ Jesus?”

The answer to God’s approval of us is in trusting that it’s all about being in Christ.

The Apostle Paul declared in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death…”

To be free of condemnation not only means that I am forgiven of the past; it means that I am clothed with the Lord Jesus right now. It means that the righteousness of God has been applied to me. When I am in Christ Jesus, I wear His robe of righteousness.*

When God, who is JUST, declares someone righteous, it is an accurate and justified declaration.

Before God gave the Law to Moses, He revealed Himself to Abram as the Covenant-keeping God. What Abram could not supply on his own, God supplied: the atoning, mediating sacrifice, the empowerment for keeping covenant. (See Genesis 15:12-18)

What we could not do for ourselves, God did for us in Christ! The perfect God-Man became sin for us so that, in Him, we might become the righteousness of God!** We have become the righteousness of God in Christ, and we are becoming more and more like Him as we seek to “act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.”***

We are free from condemnation, not because God sees the righteousness of Christ as a covering over our sinful natures, but because when we are surrendered to Christ; He himself transforms our sinful natures into His holy nature. And so, sin has no power—the chains of death have no power—over us, because in Christ our sinful natures can be cleansed and healed! And that is from the inside, not just the outside, so we might serve God as transformed persons and KNOW that we have the approval of God.

“And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

Have you fully surrendered to the Lord Jesus? What does God want to transform in you? Let’s offer to Him our whole beings again and stand in the assurance of His approval…

Scriptures Referenced: *Isaiah 61:10; **2 Cor. 5:21; ***Micah 6:8