At Christmas time, we celebrate the greatest gift that God has ever given: His own Son. But what does that gift have to do with us? We need to receive that gift. What does it mean to receive the gift of Jesus?
First, to receive Jesus means that we accept the claims Jesus makes about Himself. He claims to be the Savior of the world. Do we believe that this is true? That’s not an easy decision. It’s something we have to think about deeply.
Why would anyone believe that this Man is the Creator and Savior of the world? One of the most powerful arguments is from the fact that so many agree that Jesus is a good and valuable teacher of humanity. It would be easy to put him alongside all of the teachers of humanity and say that He is just another great one.
The trouble is that Jesus has not left that option open to us. As C.S. Lewis, himself an atheist who eventually received Jesus, said:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of thing Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
How can we put together His astounding influence and the positive good that He brings with the seemingly wild claims about His own power, authority, and divinity? I would encourage you to consider this for yourself.
Second, to receive Jesus means that we want Jesus to save us. We believe that He is the source of light, life, forgiveness, and eternal blessing. We accept Him as the one who will give that to us.
John describes this in a variety of ways to help us understand it. For example, he quotes Jesus as saying, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). Again, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus also said, “I am the gate for the sheep, whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9). All these are ways of saying that we have to receive Jesus and commit ourselves to Him by an act of faith.
Third, to receive Jesus means to accept His leadership. In John 8:12 He says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” In the days in which Jesus was on earth, people would follow Jesus around and listen to Him. We cannot literally do that now, but we can accept His guidance and teaching through His Word together with His people. That’s what it means to receive Jesus.
Accepting Jesus is about accepting Him in all that He is. One of those things is the Lord of the Universe. When we receive Jesus, we are saying that we accept that leadership.
That’s what believers mean when they say that we receive Jesus. In many ways, it’s a very simple act that anyone can do at any time. At the same time, the implications of receiving Him are staggering and life-changing.
Wherever you are in your journey, I hope that you will consider Jesus’ claims this year and the hope that He provides that we remember in the Christmas season.