So there is a new song out, well ok, sort of new - "Like the Cool Kids" by Echosmith. I am not going to lie I am not sure what else this group sings and I had to google it for this post cause I wasn't sure who sang it, but nonetheless it is a great song.
AND we can all relate. Much of our time and our life is spent trying to fit it - be it in high school, work and even our own families (or those we marry into). Acceptance is one of the best feelings in the world and is what we as humans seek to find. We hope the one we marry accepts us as who we are flaws and all, we hope that our parents love us no matter what we become and we hope that whatever "group" we belong to is willing to put up with us even on our bad days.
For some time church has "failed" at being that place of acceptance. Much of church is not about accepting all kinds but is instead about faking your way into a box. That should change. Not this isn't going to be another rant against the church for there are PLENTY of churches out there accepting all and any who come through their doors - I know personally one such church.
Instead this is a blog that points to the bigger and more amazing thing about acceptance: GOD HAS ACCEPTED YOU THE WAY YOU ARE. If God knows us before we are born and knows the kind of life we will lead, then God has already accepted us. For those who proclaim Christ and come to know a relationship with God you can feel that love and acceptance. God loves us - flaws and all.
No matter who we are or where we are in life God wants to accept us and show us love. God wants to be in a relationship with us no matter how unworthy, lost or messy we think we are. To God we are one of the cool kids and that is what is amazing. God's love doesn't come with the strings that often love between humans comes with - it is unconditional. God's love does require that we return the love and we give thanksgiving.
And the best part - even when we find ourselves feeling alone and no one could understand - God does. Even when we find ourselves feeling like no one accepts who we are - God does. The challenge then is not in knowing that God accepts us for who we are --- the challenge is to go that one step further and BELIEVE that God accepts us for who we are which means we much at the same time accept who we are.
We have to accept all the negatives about ourselves that we have been trying to hid. We have to accept the hurt we have caused or the pain that we have. Or perhaps it is just simply accepting that we are perfect or that we can't do everything we want. Maybe our lives are not a complete mess, but you still need to know that God's love is there.
Wherever you are on your faith journey, know that God accepts you, loves you and has claimed you as one of God's own. Trust and believe that through that acceptance love is possible.
It isn't about getting the "cool kids" to like you, it is about accepting God's true love for you and believing and knowing that through your faith all things are possible. Release yourself from the fads of this world so you might be able to be engulfed by the love of Christ.
