Ephesians 1:6
“to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”
His grace made us accepted. That impossible task, done. Throughout the millennia and all of time people have sought to be right with God. Great lengths were followed. In our time some think that doing horrible acts are ways to God. They pursue them. All of that is unnecessary and doesn't work.
If we attempted to interrupt these, they wouldn't believe it. The accepting is simple, as the work has already been done. Guilt and work ethic won't let them do the easy thing. They see it as an Everest challenge. They see purpose in the chase. They think their bad actions require a difficult way.
The Everest challenge was done by one man, Jesus. He did it so we don't have to. We couldn't have done it anyways. He had to do it for us. We could have paid for our sins, but that's an eternity in hell. He paid that price for us.
When we accept His sacrifice, we are made right with God. We are set on a new path. We channel our energy into that. We need to learn His ways. Peter was a great example of lots of effort invested in wrong things. He makes the bold prediction, "I would never betray You." When the time comes, he picks up the sword and makes contact. Jesus said, not this way. He was doing what he thought was right, not so. It confused him. Not knowing what to do, he followed the crowd. That night he would deny Jesus three times. He felt guilty when the rooster crowed.
When Jesus rose, He spoke to him. He asked him three times, "Peter, do you love Me?", then responded with "Feed my sheep." That was what he was to do. Not fish, not take up swords, but to feed His sheep. That was a different course for a rough guy. The Holy Spirit would empower him soon and his first sermon was to be to thousands. Feeding them the Good News.
The Lord has a new way for us. We've been accepted. Our energies don't need to go towards that. We'll have a career, a family, but in all of that He'll use us to share the good news. Just as Peter had to give up his ideas, we'll bump into closed doors and the Lord will open the ones for us.
This is a great blessing. We could be wasting time on areas that aren't our gifts or areas where we would have little efficiency. If we obey Him, we'll be spared this. Then we'll get into zones where He wants to bless.
Serving Him here can have much blessing and fruit. Not all seasons are harvest. We'll have to invest and plant, but sometimes we'll reap a crop. All in Him. We know better. It's not us. He will bless us with favor. That also is of Him.
We've been accepted by His grace. It's a gift we could never earn. Much like home ownership to the poor. It won't happen unless there's a gift. We are poor in spirit. We need this gift. While it was very costly, God gives it with joy.
Thank You God for Your indescribable gift (2 Corinthians 9:15).