An amazing gift . . .

This past Christmas brought a surprise. I’ve learned much about computers and use one every day. However, I am the target of my children’s teasing for hanging on to my old flip phone. They also give me a bad time for hardly ever having it turned on. Maybe my husband took pity on me, but for whatever reason, he gave me a smart phone.

I must admit that my first thought was I don’t want a smart phone, but I received it with a smile and learned the basics (it is still smarter than I am). I even leave it on all day.

Like that phone, taking a gift into our possession is vital toward making that gift ours. If I refused to receive it and leave it with the giver, it would not be mine.

(Jesus) came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11–13)

In today’s devotional, Tozer expresses concern for religious activity that causes us to think that people are turning to God. He says, as does the above passage, that this activity is not an indication of genuine spirituality. I agree, for I know several people who talk the talk and are actively involved in a church, but they have no personal relationship with Christ. They have never received Him and do not have that life that He gives by grace through faith.

John also wrote other criteria for being a genuine Christian. Besides believing in Him, he includes the need for having new life: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” (1 John 5:1)

Receiving Jesus is equivalent to receiving new life. It is His life, given freely to all who will accept it. This is also equivalent to being born again. One of my ‘religious’ friends equates this new life with eternal life in heaven. In other words, new life will be a gift from God after she dies. However, Jesus said otherwise:

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) and “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5) The Bible affirms that the kingdom of God begins here. While it is complete in eternity, only those who have it now can enjoy it then!

That is, new life, redeemed life, eternal life, come at the beginning of faith when Jesus is received. He is that life. Unless we have it, we cannot perceive God’s kingdom nor enter it. Tozer says, “A sanctified life is a life conformed to the Scriptures in every particular. It commences with our hearts; it next reaches to our ears, and then it is accomplished in our feet.”

The idea of receiving a gift is simple: it is presented with outstretched arms and humbly taken with gratitude. Why then the idea that it needs to be earned, deserved, or left untouched? No one can earn it or deserve it, and unless we reach out and take it, it cannot be ours.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I change the pronouns to make this personal. I have received You and life. What an amazing gift. Yet You offer to me opportunities every day to rely on the gift of Your grace and power. Humility and receptivity are just as important for those daily tasks and challenges as they were that day when I first received You. Your Word tells me that in the same way, I need to continually receive what You offer and walk with You in that newness of life.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6–7)

The Best Food

Last year our family started a tradition. When we have a birthday dinner at home, the celebrant gets to pick the food from whatever nation appeals to him or her. In our family, we have had Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Vegetarian and Thai. On Valentine’s Day, I made a Moroccan dinner, which is my new favorite.
 

I’ve heard that we are what we eat. This saying has an interesting history ranging from being a metaphor to a literal idea. Certainly the energy in food is translated into energy by our bodies. It seems this is the parallel Jesus had in mind when He said,

"Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:56–60)

To feed on Christ is to believe in Him and rely on Him for everything. Because He lives in those who believe in Him, His strength becomes our strength. He even promised His strength to Paul (and all Christians) when it is most needed.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:7–9)

As I come to Jesus each day, the more helpless I feel, the more strength He gives. He is my life and resource, wanting to give me everything I need to help others, speak truth, fight spiritual battles and win victories over sin.

This idea of feeding on Christ has confused some who think that the bread and wine of the Eucharist or communion service are changed into the body and blood of Jesus, an idea called transubstantiation. For them, this is how to receive Jesus. The Bible does not support this idea, but confusion is no surprise. His followers were confused also, perhaps taking Him literally.

But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:61–63)

Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is not about cannibalism or transubstantiation. It is a spiritual reality that happens when the Holy Spirit grants life to those who believe. Our flesh, or human efforts, or even mere wine and bread cannot do that. Only Jesus gives life and that life comes through faith, not food and drink.

Actually, believing in Jesus and feeding on Him for strength is far more difficult than taking bread and wine. When those who followed Him understood what Jesus meant, this is what happened:

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:66–69)

Peter had it right. He knew that the words Jesus spoke were spirit and life. There was no other way to get His life but by believing and knowing this Holy One of God. 

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Lord, the spiritual discipline of feeding on You involves absorbing Your Word and letting it become part of who I am through prayer and obedience. Even when I feel weak and unable, Your strength is sufficient for whatever You ask me to be and do. I rejoice that Philippians 4:13 is true, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Receiving the King

When we were in Scotland, we drove up to the gates of the royal castle near Braemar. The flag was flying so we knew the Queen was there. However, when the guards stepped forward with their rifles up, we were not brave enough to ask if she was receiving visitors. So we turned aside and drove on.

This idea of a person receiving someone into their home is the closest I can think of to what it means to receive Jesus. Yet receiving Jesus is far more than welcoming Him inside for a visit over tea and scones. These verses present the thought . . . 

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11–13)

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. (Colossians 2:6)

Much of what follows, I’ve personalized from Spurgeon’s delightful thoughts for today. As he says, my life of faith is represented in the Bible as receiving. This action implies the very opposite of merit. Receiving is simply the acceptance of a gift, in this case a gift offered by God to me, a sinner.

Think of how the earth drinks in rain, how the sea receives streams, how the night accepts starlight. So I am like that before God, giving nothing (for I have nothing to give) and receiving freely God’s grace. I am not by nature a well or a stream, but more like a cistern into which living water flows, an empty vessel into which God pours salvation.

This idea of receiving implies a sense of realization. That is, receiving Christ is not an imaginary transaction like trying to receive a shadow. Jesus Christ is substantial, a reality. Receiving Him as God’s gift of grace through faith means that Christ has shown Himself as reality. Before He came and before faith, Jesus was only a name, a person who lived a long time ago, His life only history to me. But when He arrived at the door of my heart and I received Him, I experienced the reality of His person. He is a living Savior, not a myth or ancient history.

Yet there is more. Receiving also means taking possession of the gift. It becomes my own, appropriated to myself. When I received Jesus, He became my Savior and so much a part of me that neither life nor death or anything else can take Him away. He promises to never leave or forsake me. This relationship is now both real and eternal. God’s free gift, once received, is never taken back. Instead, He stays in my life, transforming it to be like His own life.

Salvation could be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life. I have not only received these blessings in a spiritual sense, but have received Christ Jesus Himself. He gave me life when I was dead in sin and separated from God. He also gave me forgiveness and imputed righteousness. All of what it means to becoming a Christian is precious, but these gifts cannot be separated from Christ Himself. He is the greatest gift of all. He was poured into me, gave me new life, gave me Himself. “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). “When Christ who is my life appears, then I also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). What more could I need?

Spurgeon adds this magnifying thought — since heaven itself cannot contain Him, what a heart-full Jesus must be. Heart-full indeed! 

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Lord, Your Word, these thoughts and the indwelling presence of Jesus Christ fill my heart with praise and worship. Yet I know that receiving You implies even more. I’m also to walk in the same manner that I received You — always remembering that You gift me each day with Yourself that I might do Your will. Yes, I appreciated all that You have done. I repent of my sins each day, just as I did that day. I receive Your grace and strength each day, just as that first day when receiving You. However, each day, even each moment, needs to begin with the realization that You showed up at the gate of my life and by grace I, a mere sinner, received You, the King of glory.

(photo credit)