Dear Christian,

Does God fully accept you? Is He pleased with you as His child? Do you
enjoy the Lord's unconditional blessing and favor upon your life?

Every Christian must settle two questions in their hearts if they are to
truly enjoy friendship with the Lord Jesus. Does God fully accept me?
And if He does, upon what basis does He fully accept me? To have the
Bible's answers ringing in your heart is to hold the key to daily
fellowship with the Lord.

In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6 we read, "To the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Herein lies
the basis for our acceptance by God; we are accepted, "in the Beloved."
Only through union with God's Beloved Son do we acquire God's approval.
God is saying, "If you want Me to receive you, if you want to enjoy
relationship with Me, you must be in Jesus Christ, because only in Him
will I accept you." Now if God's approval is entirely based upon us
being in Christ, then we should know what it means. You may recognize
the phrase because it is one of the most repeated in all the New
Testament. We read that Christians are "chosen in Christ," "seated in
Christ," "sealed in Christ," "rooted in Christ," "reconciled in Christ,"
"complete in Christ," blessed with, "all spiritual blessings in the
heavenly places in Christ."

To understand this wonderful phrase, let me refer to the Book of
Genesis, which tells us that in the garden of Eden, Adam, the first man,
sinned. Looking back at that event, I Corinthians 15:22 states, "in Adam
all died." and Romans 5:18 explains, "through one transgression there
resulted condemnation to all men." In these verses, God is saying, on
the day Adam sinned, the entire human race fell into sin with him
because on that day Adam represented the entire human race. Now some
might say, "That's not fair! Why should I be blamed for what Adam did?
Adam sinned, I didn't! I wasn't even there!" Yet according to how the
Lord looks upon Adam's fall, you and I, and the whole human race, were
there with Adam in the garden. We were there in him, in his loins, in
his seed as his descendants.

I have heard it explained in this way, dear Christian; if your
grandfather had died at the age of three, where would you be? You would
never has existed. Well, Adam, the first man, the father of us all,
sinned. And when he sinned, although he continued to live physically, he
died spiritually; therefore, since "in Adam all died" all of us are born
spiritually dead. Now I would never pretend to understand the fullness
of this truth, but this is what God says, and it is to the benefit of
our eternal souls to believe it. God does not accept the argument that
says, "It is not fair, I was not in the garden." God says we were there.
All mankind was there in Adam. And when God says it, it is true whether
we believe Him or not.

I mention Adam's record, not to dwell on Adam, but rather, to explain
God's concept of union. We sinned when Adam sinned because God sees us
all in Adam, in union with him. But do not be discouraged, dear
Christian, because in I Corinthians 15:45, the Lord Jesus is called the
last Adam. And by that, God is saying: As in Adam - So also in Christ.
Again in I Corinthians 15:22 we read, "For as in Adam all died, so also
in Christ all shall be made alive." What an amazing statement! When God
saves a person from sin, they leave the headship of Adam and are placed,
by the Holy Spirit, under the headship of Christ. We do not feel it, or
sense it, because it happens spiritually in the mind and heart of God.
This is where our new union with Christ gets very exciting! As God once
saw us in Adam before He saved us, He now sees us in Christ!
What do these words mean for us? To explain it, the Lord directs us to
His wonderful illustration of the human body. In Ephesians 1:22&23 we
read, "And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him
as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness
of Him who fills all in all." According to Ephesians, Christ is the
head, and we, the church, are His body. And as with any human body, the
head and the body are one. In other words, wherever my head goes, my
body goes. Therefore, when God, the Father, looks at the church (you and
I) He always views us as joined to Christ. He never views us as separate
from Christ. When God, the Father, sees His Son and the church, He sees
us as one, just like the human body is one.

Just as you and I, before salvation, were joined to and identified with
Adam, now through God's grace, we are joined to and identified with
Christ. So when Jesus died, there were really two bodies on the cross.
There was His own physical body, made up of skin and bone, and there was
Christ's mystical body, made up of the church. When Jesus died,
according to God the Father, the church died with Him. This is why the
apostle Paul writes, "I am crucified with Christ." And when Jesus rose
from the dead, the church also rose from the dead with Him, as His
mystical body. And when Jesus was seated at the right hand of God in
heaven, far above all rule and authority, the church, you and I, were
seated with Him, as His body. Dear fellow believer, this is what it
means to be in Christ.

Here is an earthly illustration: If I place a dollar bill in a book,
that dollar becomes so identified with the book, that if I then throw
the book in the water, the dollar goes in the water as well. And if I
burn the book, the dollar also burns. Whatever happens to the book
happens to the dollar because the dollar is in the book. Just so, God
has placed every believer in Christ, and whatever becomes true of Him,
becomes true of us all. While we were in Adam, we were guilty of all of
which Adam was guilty. Now through Christ's finished work at the cross,
God has moved us from Adam and placed us in Christ. And being in Christ,
we share in all that He is and all that He has.

Today, God the Son stands before God the Father, holy and righteous, and
since we are in Christ, we stand before God the Father, as holy and as
righteous as Jesus. Today, God the Father fully accepts God the Son, and
since we are in Christ, we are fully accepted by God the Father as
Jesus. Because we are in Christ, and fully identified with Him, whatever
is true of Christ before the Father, is true of us! To be in Christ
simply means that we share in all that Jesus is and all that Jesus has
before the Father.

Now one very important point here, dear Christian, is this: This is all
according to God's point of view. God does not say we have to understand
it in order for it to become true in our lives. It is true in our lives!
It is a fact. This is how God sees every one of His children. Sadly,
some may not know it. Some may not be enjoying it. Some may not even
believe it, but that does not change the fact that it is true. Believing
it does not make it more true; it is true!

We look at ourselves and see what sin had made us, but when the Father
looks at us, He sees us in His Son, as His work on the cross has remade
us. Every Christian is completely accepted by God the Father in Christ.
And although our unbelief will not make it untrue, our unbelief will
cause us to live very frustrated Christian lives, full of doubt and
fear, feeling dirty all the time before God. But when we believe, and
rest in Christ, we then begin to enjoy a renewed fellowship with Him
void of all pretense. There is a tremendous freedom abiding in a
relationship with Jesus where we can be ourselves before Him, while
trusting in Him to change us!

Sometimes we think that when God said salvation, He really meant
probation. But He did not mean probation, dear Christian. The Christian
life is not working and laboring so that God will be pleased with you.
Sometimes we think that God gives us power from on high, and only if we
use it to live obedient lives will He accept us. Yes, it is true that
the Lord desires we live obedient lives, and yes, it is only through His
enabling grace and power that we may, but the basis for our acceptance
is not what we do or do not do. The basis for our acceptance is what
Jesus has done for us at the cross, and therefore His acceptance of us
remains ever constant. By the grace of God we are in Christ, dear
Christian, and being in Christ we are declared as righteous as He. In
ourselves, we are not righteous, but in Christ we are and ever will be!
May the Lord open the eyes of our hearts to this tremendous Bible truth
that we may increasingly live in an unhindered friendship with Christ,
as we press on to know Him more! This is the key, dear believer, to
enjoying life with God - our union with Jesus Christ.

In His Wonderful Love,
Your Brother in Christ

Dear, so very dear to God,
Dearer I can not be.
For in the person of His Son,
I'm just as dear as He.

Near, so very near to God,
Nearer I can not be.
For in the person of His Son,
I'm just as near as He.

- Author Unknown