An Accepting Heart

The second thing that you and I must do if love is to last in our relationships is we must forgive with all of our hearts. The challenge most times is we confuse acceptance with forgiveness. Acceptance is not forgiveness. There is a difference between acceptance and forgiveness. In every relationship, you can expect that there will be acceptance issues and there will be forgiveness issues. But you need to see an acceptance issue as an acceptance issue and a forgiveness issue as a forgiveness issue.

For instance, in a marriage relationship, the man repeatedly leaves the toilet seat up. Then his wife says to him, “I forgive you for not putting the toilet seat down”. That is not a forgiveness issue. It is an acceptance issue; sometimes he will remember to put the toilet seat back down but some times he would not. Just accept it! I like to squeeze my toothpaste tube from the bottom towards the outlet. But my wife just grabs the tube and squeezes it from the middle. I have tried to explain the importance of order even in things like the toothpaste tube. But that did not change anything. I chose not to get upset over toothpaste, so I went out to the store and bought two tubes of toothpaste - one for her and one for myself. 

I admit this is funny but the reality is these kinds of things have a way of getting under your skin in marriage. There was peace in the house for a while until one day I found my toothpaste tube squeezed from the middle. Than I decided to hide my toothpaste but then I grew tired of always having to wait for the coast to be clear before I access it. There is only one solution, accept it as your portion until you see Jesus. I had to admit to myself that it was an acceptance issue. 

Should your husband remember your birthday? Well yes but he probably forgot because he was thinking hard about how to take care of you. Rom.15:7 “Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory” [with emphasis]. When we accept each other, God is glorified. So make up your mind to accept the other person and give God glory.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to accept and forgive the people You have put in my life with all my heart, in Jesus Name. Amen!