“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—”
To say that some people “received” Jesus is to say that everyone else either was unaware of Jesus or that they rejected him. Since verse 9 shows us that Jesus offers light to everyone, then it seems fair to conclude that people either receive Jesus or they reject him. There is no third option.
Q: Where do you see yourself in relationship to Jesus? Have you chosen to receive him? What does that mean to you?
Yes. And the receiving is only the beginning of a great adventure. Nothing else will be as important as knowing Jesus when we do. Philippians 3: 8: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Rich,
Thanks for posting again! You get the “Gold Star” poster award for the week! 🙂 My hope is that others reading this blog will want to join in and maybe comment or even ask a question.
Blessings,
Jeff
Warning! This post gets a bit real.
I accepted Christ as my savior when I was 11. Back then I didn’t really understand what a relationship with God or Jesus really meant. At that point in my life I understood that if I didn’t accept Jesus as my Savior, that if I died I would spend eternity separated from God. The thought of that scared me very much. That’s a difficult age for a young boy to try and understand a true relationship with God. My relationship with my father was pretty much non-existent, and my grandfather (who I lived with) lacked the capacity to make any kind of meaningful connection with me. There was a lot of trauma in my childhood, and even though I had accepted Jesus as my savior, I was shut down internally. So I went through decades of holding this façade of attending church and reading the bible, all the while closed off from God, people, even my own family, because I couldn’t let go of the anger in my heart. I fell away from attending church all together, and stopped praying, and soon turned to alcohol to try and numb the pain that I felt all the time.
I remember coming home at 6 am, after a night of drinking, and I prayed to God and asked Him two things: that I could feel His presence in my life, and that He could take away the pain I felt, because I could bear it any longer. (Even as I type this I am crying, but not because of sadness though). What I didn’t know is that God heard my earnest prayer. I look back on that time and can see that He started preparing for me a place, that He was shifting time and space to bring me to my lowest point, so that he could raise me up again. He got me alone, truly alone, and then He spoke to my heart, like I had never heard His voice like that before. And He gave me a gift, it was sanctuary. To ask forgiveness, to feel that forgiveness, to be protected and loved was so incredible. This is what a relationship with Jesus means to me, that I am not alone, I’m never alone, that no matter what comes my way, He is always there, I just have to call upon Him, and He will answer.
Luke 22:34-36 Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Joshua 1:9 Be strong. Be brave. Be fearless. You are never alone.
Isiah 30:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying “This is the way; walk in it.”
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare, and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Chris,
Thank you for daring to “get real” today. Your openness is a blessing! Two words jump out of your story for me. They are “earnest” and “prayer.”
This year, for me, has been focused on prayer. How does God want us to pray? The answer, I think, is encompassed with your two words: “Earnest prayer.”
I posed three questions in this post:
Where do you see yourself in relationship to Jesus?
Have you chosen to receive him?
What does that mean to you?
You chose to receive Jesus at the age of eleven. The answer to the other two questions is apparent in your story. You describe how your understanding of Jesus changed as he healed the trauma of your childhood.
As you describe your life, one can see the hand of God remaking you into the person you are and are becoming. He allowed you to move away from Him, to have your own space. He allowed you to get to a place where, as you say, you were “truly alone.” Alone, that is, except for God. It was when you were alone, and all the other voices were quiet, that you could hear God speak.
God hears us when we pray.
The question is, “How earnest is our prayer?” Is it a passing concern, a casual “I should pray about this,” or an earnest plea from the heart?
I am so glad you found your touchpoint with God. Thank you for sharing it with us and with others.