A personal relationship with Jesus Christ means that you are accepted.
“I am Christ’s friend.” – John 15:15 “Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.”
“I am God’s child.” – John 1:12 “to all who believed in him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”
“I have been justified.” – Romans 5:1 “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
“I have been bought with a price. I belong to God.” – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
“I am a member of Christ’s body.” – 1 Corinthians 12:27 “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.”
“I have been adopted as God’s child.” – Ephesians 1:5 “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
“I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit.” – Ephesians 2:18 “Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.”
“I have been forgiven of all my sins.” – Colossians 1:13-14 “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”
“I am complete in Christ.” – Colossians 2:10 “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”
What do we learn?
1. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ means that you are accepted.
2. You don’t need to do anything more to be accepted by God and brought into the family.
3. This should inform how we treat other people.
What should we do?
1. Read these verses and ask yourself what it means to you personally.
2. Write out a truth that you now believe as a result.
3. Live out of a “Thank You” for this truth.
4. Identify a lie that you may have been believing, remove it.
5. Let this truth inform all your relationships/interactions.
(Please note that the “I Am Accepted” outline here can be found in the Freedom book from Church of the Highlands.)