My Favorite Things: A

The first of my favorite things isn’t an object, it is more of an idea: acceptance.

I’m weird. I’ve accepted that. Sometimes. No matter how comfortable I am in my own skin, I want to be able to “fit in”. I want to be able to be myself in a group AND be accepted as a part of that group. The fear is that one day, when people find out this or that, I will become unacceptable; a piece making up who I am will be the deal-breaker in a friendship.

As I go through this list, it will be comprised of interests, passions, hobbies, likes, stories, people and many other things. These elements play a part in who I am, but do not define me completely. The idea of acceptance for me doesn’t have to do with accepting “my list of favorite things”. Nor does it mean someone views me as perfect, without need of change or improvement.

I try to be accepting of people. That doesn’t mean I condone, or approve of things that are wrong, I just recognize the fact they are human with flaws just like me. What is easy for many of us is to look at the odd things, especially the flaws in other people and define them according to that simple aspect. But we were all meant to be so much more.

The greatest example of this is my salvation. Romans 5: 8 states, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The Bible teaches us that we are all sinners, deserve punishment for our sin (hell), but Jesus Christ died in our place. By God’s grace, through faith in what Christ did for me, I was forgiven and know with 100% certainty that Heaven is my home after this life is over.

Christ died for me while I was in my sinful state. He accepted me the way I was, but because he loves me he won’t leave me the way I am. He knows me inside and out and still loves me. Knowing how he suffered, and getting to know him through his Word is motivation to become more “acceptable” to him by way of me being conformed to his image.

There is a great lie about acceptance that seems very prevalent as I look around: acceptance of a person requires not defining their flaws (sins) as a flaw (sin). We are no longer to believe there is sin or God has standards, and if we do, we no longer love or accept Gods way. The truth is that we are to love people the way they are, just like God does. Loving someone requires us to speak honestly to them, which doesn’t require beating them over the head solely in regards to what bad things they do.

Three things to walk away from on this:

1. Accept people for who they are, people with problems, and help them without hating them. (We all have problems, if you don’t think you do, that is just one of yours.)
2. Realize that people can still recognize your activities or lifestyle as sinful and still be accepting. And also realize that some passion or zeal in particular convictions isn’t automatically hatred or bullying.
3. Most importantly, if the whole “100% certainty” about Heaven is still a question mark for you, visit church with me some time and let’s talk about it at lunch if you’re in NYC. If you live some where else, drop me a line and we can talk about it or I can find a friend close to where you are willing to sit down over lunch, or a few lunches and show you what God says about the matter.