On the other side of Acceptance

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REALITY is only a threat when we cannot live in harmony with the truth. Yet reality is a real issue for every single one of us. It’s a phenomenon that must be mastered if we’re to live the life every human being is purposed to live. Comparatively few ever do. Yet it’s the opportunity God freely gives each one of us.

This is a companion article to Endurance is easier when we accept life is a test. In that article I suggested that accepting life as a test makes endurance easier; possible, when it feels impossible. Simply knowing endurance is possible, at times, fills us with hope.

Acceptance, when we land there, teaches us that our lives in their totality are in the hands of God. We have given up claim to our life. We’re ready to die if need be. The paradox is we’re never readier to live. We don’t want to die. But we’re prepared to do whatever God requires — no correspondence entered into. Of course, we land there and we can expect to be tested to that degree. That is a harrowing thought, but every landing must be tested.

On the other side of acceptance is a land where the Bible makes complete sense. Every page. Because it’s the Word of God. We expect to be pressed into discomfort. On the other side of acceptance, we accept mysteries, and perplexing situations don’t need to be explained. They are what they are. We judge less. But we’re also tested into further discomfort.

But how do we get there?

A big part of the answer to that question resides in accepting that life is a test, and accepting in our daily lives that every difficulty we experience has a purpose in our lives — as tests. These tests are not given by God or by people to stir us up, but they implicit within life. Tests of patience and kindness and self-control (among other virtues we may lack) are just the way life works.

When we exist on the other side of acceptance, tests are welcomed within our trials, because we know they’re part of life.

Acceptance teaches that trials can be welcomed as tests; a purpose revealing God’s glory in us and our growth in Him.