All the children of God and members of Christ are equally “accepted in the beloved”; all stand in one common relationship. The very feeblest member of the body of Christ is loved by God as Christ is loved. The Head and the members cannot be separated. As He is so are they. The feeblest child in the family has his own place in the Father’s heart, with which no one can ever interfere (Eph. 1:6; John 17:26; 1 John 4:17).
All this is blessedly true, and nothing can ever touch it. But it is one thing to be “accepted,” and another thing to be “acceptable” or agreeable. It is one thing to be a beloved child, and another thing to be a devoted servant. There is the love of relationship, the love of complacency.
These things must not be confounded. And, most assuredly, it should be the earnest desire of every “accepted” child of God to be an “acceptable” servant of Christ. O! may it be so more and more in this day of cold indifference and self-seeking, in which so many seem to rest satisfied with the mere fact of being in fellowship, as it is called—the form of breaking bread; and so few, comparatively, are pressing after that high standard of personal devotedness which, we may rest assured, is “agreeable” to the heart of Christ.
“Wherefore also we are zealous, whether present or absent, to be agreeable to Him” (2 Cor. 5:9, JND).