Receiving Presents

Ever since I was three I remember loving God.  As I grew up and became an adult this love remained but I lost the sense of how to spend time communing with Him. I chased God. I prayed and read my Bible.  I worshiped.  I even fasted from time to time whenever crisis or desperation got deep enough.  However I rarely, if ever, would turn my heart towards His Presence to receive without an agenda.  God didn't need me but I sure needed Him.  I've got to do something.  Reflecting back, my reasons for seeking God usually came from some sort of required obedience, or a desire for change.

My youngest posing on his 3rd birthday...eager to open presents.

It was after hearing a teaching one night that I started to understand what my posture before God was missing.  The teaching basically said that when two people kiss there isn't room for a conversation.  Think about that.  Something has got to give. You can't have a conversation and receive a kiss at the same time.  If your mouth (or your mind in this case) is always moving then there's little chance you'll receive the gift of affection pouring out on you.  I’ll take it in another direction.  If you have two full cups of water and try pouring them into one another at the same time what happens?  There's a mess and neither glass got what the other was pouring. One glass has to be positioned to receive.  One has to be positioned higher and the other lower.  I always came humble before God but there lies the problem - I was always pouring out and didn't understand how much He was pouring in.

So I decided I was going to posture to receive.  Practically this looked like me just sitting still and letting God love on me. This doesn’t sound revolutionary but something profound happened in that moment.  My heart began to be filled with wordless affirmation.  My mind began resting and slowly receded from doing something - working for love - and shifted to receiving the love I was feeling.   Could it be that God was always pouring out this way?  Was I so set on giving that I had lost the ability to receive?  

How do you receive a gift at Christmas?  Do you sit there and process the gift, happy to just know what’s in the box without opening it?  If you want what's in that box it never even crosses your mind to leave the present unopened.  “That’s jewelry.  I've always wanted diamonds. Ok, thanks for the gift.  I understand that I have jewelry now.  No need to wear it or show it to anyone else.  The gift you have given me is awesome and I will cherish it forever as I keep it unopened.  Next gift please.”  This sounds ridiculous and if you were the gift giver that had just spent a lot of money on an amazing gift you'd be encouraging your sweetheart "Open the gift!  Try it on!  Do you see the inscription with your name on it and what I said?  Put it on and let's see how great it looks on you!"

Christ’s love for us is much the same way.  He came as a gift to the world displaying the Father's love and affection for us while we were still sinners.  His life isn't a gift that is simply received in our minds and affirmed in a prayer.  He paid with everything for you to have something that is experienced.  He came for you to be transformed by love.  That's not a theological truth detached from your life.  No, you were created for it and he's wanting you to put in on - this gift that is life abundant - life to the full measure of what you were created for.  This gift is meant for joy - your in-joy-ment.  "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him" Psalms 34:8 (NIV)

The word repent has been misunderstood to mean - "feel bad".  Repenting is much more like receiving a gift that changes the way you think.  John the Baptist told the crowds, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."  He saw Jesus and wanted the people to realize the truth at hand - there is something for you to open.  That gift is Jesus.  Once the gift is opened we see the truth about how God, the Father, the gift giver, feels about us.  I was just given WHAT! This is amazing. He really loves me.  Our thinking isn't just changed by a truth that's appealing but by beholding the Gift and the Giver.  You can’t wear what you've only dreamed about.  You have to open what’ been given to you.  You have to take off the tag and wear it.  Receiving is practically acting out what's been provided to you - one gift - the lamb who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).

The gift of revelation comes when you position yourself to see differently.  I know I'm loved because I've encountered the one that loves me best.  I knew the Grand Canyon was big when I saw pictures of it and read about it but when I went there it hit me, "this thing is huge!" As soon as I saw it in person I wanted to come back again.  Now, you can read about God's love and even talk about it with others but only by positioning yourself to taste and see will you encounter love.

You are so loved.  There is a currency that is being deposited into your heart. This currency is God's amazing love for you.  Receiving His love is the first step towards amazing thinking.  How do you receive what's in your account?  You draw on it.  Changing the way you think begins in saying yes to the amazing gift of Jesus.  Say yes and open this gift for the first time today or, if you've already done so, do it again and then again tomorrow and repeat on the following day.  It's the gift that keeps on giving and Jesus looks so good revealed in you.