Acceptance can be hard. What the object of acceptance is remains solely to the individual; but depending on the circumstances, the action of accepting may be difficult, but it can be very rewarding. For instance, I know many people, including myself, that struggle with accepting lifestyles or viewpoints of others that do not correlate with our own. Now I’m not saying that we need to just accept everything that everybody does, rather I am stating that we should accept everyone for who they are and who they can be.
A struggle for me throughout most of my life, for example, has been accepting others’ lifestyles, more specifically, the wealthy and the poor. Being middle class my entire life, I relate well with those whom live as I have. I have often had a hard time accepting the wealthy and their life of luxuries, nice houses, and fancy cars for the people that they are without the money being a factor. Additionally, I have found it difficult to accept the poor and their lack of worldly possessions as the people that that they are without their circumstances coming into play.
But over that past couple of years I have been working on this issue of acceptance and judgment. “Don't judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.” With this quote, I remind myself that I do not know all, and there is more to the story than the cover of the book I am seeing. Regardless of others’ worldly position, I try to accept that person for who they are, not what they have. For all I know, even though their life isn’t equal to mine, maybe they are comfortable and content. We all have our own struggles, worries, and faults – some of which we can change and some of which we accept – but as for others, who are we to judge? Shouldn’t we just accept them and love them for who they are, just as God has accepts and loves us?
You are not accepted by God because you deserve to be, or because you have worked hard for him; but because Jesus died for you (Colin Urquhart, 1940– ).
Josh
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