"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:6)

 

This wonderful verse assures that all who have been saved by God's grace have been "accepted" by the Lord. However, this is not just a marginal acceptability. The Greek word occurs only one other time in the New Testament, and there it appears in the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary. "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women". That is, we are not merely accepted; we are highly favored by God!

 

This is not because of our own personal merits, of course. It is because God sees us as in His Son; He loves us because He loves Him, and we are in Him.