Leaving Laodicea

The Antidote for Self-DoubtTo the praise of the glory of His grace,by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.Ephesians 1:6As believers, one of the most incredible truths we can embrace is that God has made us, even with all our failures and shortcomings, “accepted in the Beloved” or “accepted in His Son” (Eph. 1:6). This short phrase reveals the depths of God’s love and the privileged position we now enjoy in Christ. And when we grasp the full implications of these few words, they will revolutionize the way we view ourselves and how we live out our faith on a daily basis. That’s not hyperbole, just the facts.Let’s look at what it means to be truly “accepted in the Beloved.”God’s Gracious ChoiceAs we begin to unpack the richness of this verse, we must start with the declaration that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Let that sink in— before God spoke creation into existence, and before He formed the galaxies or breathed life into Adam, He had already sel