So, God wants to give us this gift, but we can only receive it by placing our faith in Him, and He is not asking us for anything in return.
Doing something for you, bringing something to you -
that’s not what you’re after.
Psalm 40:6 (The Message)
Imagine I give you a lovely painting for a gift, but you say, “No thanks, please take it out of here.” My gift is still a gift, even if you refuse to receive it. Or, imagine I give you a book for a gift and you say, “Thanks,” then you immediately put my gift on a shelf with all your other unread books.
I imagine this is how God feels most days. He wants to give us the most precious gift of all time - - in fact, He has already given us this gift. We just have to receive it. But instead we say, “Thanks, that’s very nice of you. Just put it over there with all my other unwanted and unappreciated gifts.”
The gift of salvation belongs to everyone. We just have to take it, to receive it. And we receive it by believing in Him.
What does that mean, believing in Him?
If I have worn the heavy boots of sin all my life, am I suddenly expected to say in one moment that I believe everything the Bible says about God, even though I haven’t read it?
God says we must believe IN HIM to receive the gift of salvation. The moment we accept Christ into our lives, the moment we confess our sin and turn away from it, when we ask God’s forgiveness for living wrongly, we receive the gift of God’s Love into our lives. In that moment we believe in Him. We can say, “Thank you God for this wonderful one-of-a-kind gift. It is very special and I will treasure it. Every time I look at it (read the Bible, gaze at a beautiful sunset, encounter some unexpected kindness) I will think about You and give thanks for it (say a little prayer to you).”
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
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