How amazing it is that faith is receiving. And not trying, trying, and trying. Faith is always and forevermore receiving. It is always God first. Again and again, God pouring out blessings upon blessings on us. Faith is receiving God’s gifts: his love, his grace, his peace, his joy. Once we’ve filled to the brim with God’s grace, only then it is our turn to reciprocate and love God and others. But it is always God first.
We love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19, AMP,*)
Faith is receiving
Some people don’t like the fact that faith is receiving. We can’t earn salvation no matter how much we’d like to pay for it, we can only receive it by grace through faith in Jesus. But even salvation is not the end of receiving. Like Martin Luther has said, we are all beggars. We need God’s grace to empower us for Christian living and loving. All the days of our life.
What a joy it is to receive faith as a gift. It is humbling for sure but receiving is the only way we can have it. I think it is most of all liberating and incredibly generous and life-affirming. God loves us so much that he does everything so we can be united with him. That leaves me in awe and adoration. Even the good works we are to do have been prepared for us. Faith is indeed receiving. Let’s open our hearts and minds for God to fill us to overflowing.
Gracious God,
The fact that faith is receiving
blesses us beyond measure.
It is you who does all the work,
who loves us first, and
wants to give and give and give.
We are in awe of your love
and because of your astonishing love
we want to receive all you have for us
and grow closer and closer to you.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Q4U: What do you think? Is faith receiving? How does it make you feel?
Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses toBiblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.].
Photo by Wijdan Mq on Unsplash. Linking up today with Dance with Jesus, Five-minute Friday.
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