Accept One Another

Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.

Romans 15:7

Author and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel worked in New York City after World War II as a correspondent for a French newspaper. His travel permit expired, and he was told at the French consulate that he would have to return to France to have it renewed, which he could not afford to do. At the U.S. immigration office, an official kindly said to him, “Why don’t you become a U.S. resident and apply for citizenship?” So he did. Years later, when offered French citizenship, Wiesel declined. When he needed a homeland, it was America that had offered him one.

People often gravitate to where they are accepted. When we were lost, “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12), it was God who “accepted [us] in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). Once accepted by Him, we remain because of the riches of grace He bestows upon us. Millions of wandering souls have found welcome refuge in America, but millions more have found welcome acceptance in the kingdom of God. If you know people who are looking for acceptance, why not model God’s acceptance by extending them yours?

Accepting people as they are is the first step toward helping them find out who they can become.