Striving for acceptance

     The desire to be accepted is built into the nature of each one of us.  Much time is spent, throughout the course of one's life, attempting to fit in and be accepted by one's peers.  Many different physical methods are used to gain such attraction.  Males may go out for sports, lift weights, use foul language or smoke, while females may fix up their hair, wear stylish clothing(often times accentuating certain body features), use lots of make-up or lower their values just to find a niche that they can fit into.  As a believer, we must exit that system, not ceasing to strive for acceptance, but attempting to find it in another source...God.  Is God pleased with you?  Your dress, your attitude, your behavior?  Does He find you acceptable?  Today, I will share with you two things that must be present in your life for it to be acceptable before God.

     Die to self.  Romans 12:1 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."  For our lives to be acceptable to God we must surrender them.  All our hopes and desires must be turned over to our Creator, allowing His perfect plan to supersede our own.  It is when we choose to lay down our lives and become wholly devoted to Him, that He can use us in mighty ways.

     Be transformed, not conformed.  Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."  As we die to ourselves, we will notice more and more of our life that had been conformed to this world.  To be acceptable, God asks that we begin to live a transformed(drastically changed) life by having our minds renewed.  This renewal(change) happens through the reading and studying God's Word.  It is through His Word that we begin to understand what He desires us to do and how to think.

     Do you continually die to yourself?  Are you studying God's Word and allowing it to renew your mind?  If so, you will find that your life will be acceptable to God.  If not, your life may be acceptable to man, but God is not well pleased.