Receive

“A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given from heaven.”  John 3:27

Receive – How many times have you heard the expression “Life is a gift”?  How many times have you let the implications of this truth simply slip past?  We all nod our heads and agree.  “Oh, yes.  Life is such a wonderful gift.”  But then we go right on believing that all of the “things” associated with life are really grasped or earned by our efforts.  John the Baptist had a very different view.  Nothing about the gift called Life comes to us unless God gives it.

Did you notice that in John’s view you and I are not the active agents in this arrangement?  We don’t seize the moment, wresting it from fickle destiny!  We don’t push the envelope, fighting against impossible odds to win the prize.  We aren’t rewarded because we deserved credit on the basis of our achievements.  No, everything about us begins with God’s gift.  What we have or don’t have, what we enjoy or don’t’ enjoy, our bodies, our jobs, our circumstances, our dreams and desires – all of it is in God’s hand.

The word here is lambano.  In various contexts is means, “to receive”, “to take”, “to seize”.  John expresses his absolute conviction that God is sovereign.  Not one single thing becomes ours unless God gives it.  Imagine the change in your frame of mind if you really believed this to be true.  Would you continue to complain about your troubles?  Would you go on bragging about your victories?  Would be still be looking for that break?  Or would life become the glorious journey of contentment with God’s gifts?

The “self-made man” is a myth.  No one pulls himself up by the bootstraps.  The only difference between John’s view and most other men is that John acknowledges God’s handiwork with humility.  Others claim their independence from God by asserting that they are captains of their own fate.  What a mistake!  And what a miserable and lonely life.

For the next 24 hours, put John’s view into practice.  Pay attention to everything that God gives to you.