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<p>&quot;<strong>Accepted in the Beloved</strong>.&quot; Ephesians 1:6<br />
          <br />
          We are ever looking for something in SELF to make <br />
          ourselves acceptable to God. We are often sadly cast <br />
          down and discouraged when we cannot find in ourselves . . .<br />
          that holiness,<br />
          that obedience,<br />
          that calm submission to the will of God,<br />
          that serenity of soul,<br />
          that spirituality,<br />
          that heavenly-mindedness,<br />
          which we believe to be acceptable in His sight!<br />
          <br />
          Our crooked tempers, <br />
          our fretful, peevish minds, <br />
          our rebellious thoughts, <br />
          our coldness and barrenness, <br />
          our alienation from good,<br />
          our headlong proneness to evil, <br />
          with the daily feeling that <strong>we get no better, <br />
            but rather worse</strong>—make us think that God <br />
          views us just as we view ourselves!<br />
          <br />
          And this brings on great darkness of mind and bondage<br />
          of spirit, until we seem to lose sight of <strong>our acceptance <br />
            in Christ</strong>, and get into <strong>the miserable dregs of self</strong>—almost<br />
          ready to quarrel with God because we are so vile, and only<br />
          get worse as we get older!<br />
          <br />
          Now the more we get into <strong>these dregs of self</strong>, and the more <br />
          we keep looking at the dreadful scenes of wreck and ruin <br />
          which our heart presents to daily view—the farther do we <br />
          get from the grace of the gospel—and the more do we lose <br />
          sight of the only ground of our acceptance with God. It is <br />
          &quot;in the Beloved&quot; that we are accepted—and not for any . . .<br />
          good words,<br />
          good works,<br />
          good thoughts,<br />
          good hearts, or<br />
          good intentions of our own! <br />
          <br />
          If our acceptance with God depended on anything <br />
          <strong>in ourselves</strong>, we would have to believe we might <br />
          be children of God today and children of the devil <br />
          tomorrow!<br />
          <br />
          What, then, is to keep us from sinking altogether <br />
          into despair, without hope or help? Why, a knowledge <br />
          of our acceptance &quot;in the Beloved,&quot; independent of <br />
          everything in us—good <strong>or</strong> bad!<br />
          <br />
          &quot;And you are complete in Him!&quot; Colossians 2:10
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