If you’re anything like me, you get the password wrong at least once before you’re granted entrance—

Username:

Password:

We peck something onto the keyboard from our scrambled memories, and the red words of doom appear, “Invalid Password. Access Denied.”

Just like that, we find ourselves Shut Out…Rejected…Disapproved.

There are so many other ways that we receive the same message in our daily lives—

Didn’t get the job…Unwanted

Didn’t get the guy…Unloved

Failed a test…Unacceptable

Wronged a loved one…Unworthy

It’s natural for us to want to “measure up.” We desire to be valued, loved, and we want so much to fit in. But the many things that preclude us from the acceptance we so desperately seek only proves that when it’s left up to us, we fall short.

We’re only human, after all.

BUT GOD.

As our inadequacies pile up faster than smelly garbage lining the block in Brooklyn on trash day (trust me that’s a LOT of stinkin’ trash), we can come to only one conclusion: We are needy, sinful people. And we’re frantically looking for ways to fill the void so we can feel whole.

But what if we could BE whole?

…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ… Ephesians 2:4-5

The big things of this life are no comparison to our biggest problem on the scale of eternity. Apart from a saving work of Jesus Christ in us, we face judgment and wrath. Our greatest need of validation and acceptance is that with God Almighty.

As we look around at all the other areas that have us pan-fried in failure, we can trust this: God does NOT fail. NOT EVER.

And He knows us completely. He knows our perishable frame, and God knows what we need most— Him and His acceptance of us.

We can never attain that acceptance on our own, and I am honestly thankful for that. I’ve seen my track record. I’m really not that awesome when it is all said and done, BUT GOD…

God made a way for us to have restored fellowship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. In Christ we are all the things we desire to be before our gracious Heavenly Father:

Wanted

Loved

Accepted

Worthy

And the best part?

There’s no password or secret handshake with God. Just FAITH. It comes on the basis of God Himself and the perfect atoning sacrifice He provided on our behalf. So it NEVER. FALLS. SHORT.

Access Granted

In Christ we are validated in the kingdom of God. And that matters more than any, anything on this earth. Because we can rest in Christ’s work, we can also embrace our failings and short comings knowing this—

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 9-10

Defeat ushers in thankfulness for the eternal victory that will never be lost. We aren’t validated by our failures or even our successes. Eyes fixed on validation rather than the One Who validates miss out on the spectacular view faith has to offer. The hope we have in Christ is strengthened in our weaknesses.

Because God is the guarantor of this promise, we never have to worry about how it will turn out. And since God also initiated it, we don’t have to do anything to attain it. Acceptance through Jesus is offered to us freely by faith—it’s not in a “password protected” area in our world.

And if that is ALL I ever have, if I never succeed at anything and everything falls apart, His word, His kingdom, and His Glory will stand forever.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2