Ready, Steady, GrowSample

Acceptance

A gift to be unwrapped.

How do you respond when someone gives you a gift? Think back to being a child and getting Christmas or birthday presents. You excitedly peel layers of wrapping paper off, eager to get to what’s on the inside. Maybe it is the new toy or outfit you asked for! You cannot wait to see it and try it out for the first time. Can you imagine receiving a gift and never opening it? If you gave someone a gift and they didn’t open it, you would probably think they were ungrateful or didn’t care.

The Bible describes salvation as a gift from God. As the anchor scripture says, it is not something we have to work for or earn, it is freely given to us by God. However, it is a living gift, one that we must fully accept and live out daily for it to be effective. It is a gift that comes with power, life change, fruits, and gifts of the Holy Spirit; but to enjoy these, we must first unwrap the box and use what is inside.

In Mark 4:1-20, Jesus tells a story of a man who sows seeds on different types of soil: a pathway, stony ground, thorny bushes, and good soil. In this story, the seed represents the good news of salvation and the soil, the state of our hearts. Mark 4:7 says, “And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.” Verse 19 explains that this represents people who hear the good news of God, but the cares of the world, desires for riches and other things enter in and choke the Word out and it becomes unfruitful.

This doesn’t mean that we cannot desire riches or good things, but, if we place those things first in our lives and make them our priority, then there is little room left for salvation to grow and become fruitful.

If you are asking, how do I accept this gift of salvation? It is really simple. If you ever received a gift that you didn’t know how to use, you would probably do one of two things: look for a manual, which these days means a quick search on Google or Youtube, or go to the one who gave the gift and ask them to show you. Well, the same can be done with the gift of salvation; the giver is God and the manual is His Word - the Bible. God gave us the gift of salvation so that we could be in relationship with Him, and accepting this gift means accepting the invitation to intimacy with God. There is no one formula to a relationship with God, in fact, God desires authentic intimacy with us. However, there are certain disciplines that can start us on our way including reading the Bible, prayer, and worship, individually and corporately. As we grow closer and closer to God and submit ourselves to His will, He does the work that leads to a life of fruitfulness.

Accept God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ today. It is a gift to be unwrapped and enjoyed every day of our lives.