I Receive
They say kids say the darndest things. I don't know what darndest means, but my daughter Charlotte says the most incredible, meaningful, priceless things. I have a file on my phone called Charlottisms; as you can guess, it is where I write down the incredible things she says and does. It is so hard to capture it all, but I try. When Charlotte was four, we were riding in the car, and she asked where we were. “On 77,” I replied.
“Why did you choose to take 77 instead of 85?” she asked. I just shook my head at her shrewdness.
Then, a few weeks ago, she asked me where chicken nuggets come from. I told her, “You have to kill a chicken to get chicken nuggets.”
“Do you have to kill a cook to get a cookie?” she asked.
I love talking to her, hearing the next clever question, the next brilliant comment, the next heartfelt thought verbalized.
The other night, during our devotions, we studied John 1:12, “Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” I began to explain to her what it meant to receive. As with most of her generation, she is very familiar with package deliveries, especially Amazon, so I said, “Say the Amazon guy comes to the door with a package, he hands it to you, and you take it; that means you received the package. But, if he handed you the package and you did not want it and refused to take it, that means you rejected it, which is the opposite of receiving. Got it?” I asked.
“Got it,” she answered.
“The scripture says that Jesus's own people did not receive Him; they turned Him away, and they rejected Jesus. They did not want Him,” I said.
“Oh no!” she shouted, looking somber, “That's not nice! I want Him, I want Jesus!”
I had to put my Bible down for a minute; I was so touched by what she said. What she had just said was so earnest, genuine, and powerful. “I want Jesus!” My job is done, I thought to myself. That is all I want. That is what all this is for. That is why I do anything and everything I do for her, so that she can learn to have a relationship with Jesus and, there you have it, she wants Jesus!
“Do you know how happy Jesus is to hear you say that,” I asked her. “He is doing a two-step right now in heaven hearing you say that, knowing that you receive Him! You just made Jesus very, very happy!”
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn. 1:12).
There were people who rejected Christ; some people reject Him even today. What God has offered mankind is leaps and bounds beyond any offer we could ever get. What God has offered all of mankind is the free gift of salvation through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. There is nothing you can do to earn it, and if you have truly accepted it, you can do nothing to lose it. All you have to do is receive God’s gift (Rom. 6:23). “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). We have the right to become Children of God. All we have to do is say “Yes” to Jesus. All we have to possess is the sincere desire for Jesus, just like a child, to want Him with all our hearts.
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, do so today; now, tomorrow is not promised. Each of us has an appointed time for physical death. This decision will determine whether your spirit departs from your body and instantly joins the Creator of All things or separates from Him for all eternity. Pray this prayer, believing and receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior:
Dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe in Your finished work, that You died for my sins and rose from the dead, and now sit at the right hand of God the Father. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. I turn from my sins and pray that You will help me to trust and follow You throughout the rest of my life. In Your Precious and Holy Name, I pray. Amen.
