Need a Pick-Me-Up?

"10[Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

"12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."                          

 

-John 1:10-13 (NKJV)

 

As I was reading through my daily reading (yup, finally found that missing Bible!) I came across this passage. 

 

Okay, I'm thinking, Jesus was in the world, mhm, and the world was made through Him, yup, and the world rejected Him mhm,, or did not comprehend that He was their Messiah, yeah. He came to His own people, and they rejected Him or did not welcome Him, right.

 

And then I looked at the footnotes for this next passage because so many words were built up to state the reward, the undeserved gift of those who do believe and welcome Jesus into their lives.

 

Studying this passage led me to 4 AMAZING reminders:

 

1.  JESUS GAVE US THE RIGHT TO BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD!

 

The right, the legitimate entitlement to be claimed as His child. THIS IS HUGE! Just because we believe in what His name stands for: that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that none come the Father except through Him (John 14:6). We believe that, we warmly receive Him into our lives, our homes, our hearts, and He adopts us as His own. WOW.

 

2. GOOD NEWS: THIS NEW SPIRITUAL BIRTH IS NOT OF BLOOD

 

As in, we aren't reborn in the spirit based on genetics or parents. So we don't inherit it through our bloodline. This means you need your own faith! If you come from a Christian family, you need to be born of God, to stand on your own beliefs. And for those of you who come from a non-believing family, here's good news: you can believe in God, despite what they do or do not believe in! It is your own spiritual birth process.

 

3. GOOD NEWS: THIS NEW SPRITUAL BIRTH IS NOT OF THE WILL OF THE FLESH

 

Your spiritual birth has nothing to do with what you can or cannot do! In fact, it's not by your personal efforts that you are going to all of the sudden reach spiritual level 100 where you have the right to be claimed by God as His child. I repeat: YOU CAN EARN IT! It's given to you!

 

"12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God..."

 

So quit trying to earn something that you are freely given when you welcome Jesus into your life, when you believe in all that His name lays claim to!

 

4. THE BEST NEWS OF ALL: THIS NEW SPIRITUAL BIRTH IS OF GOD!

 

So there! Believe and be born of God. Not of your family's beliefs or disbeliefs, not of your work and efforts, you are born of God, you cannot earn what His Son gave to you by means of dying for our sins that we may know God and be in relationship with Him.
 

So if you needed a pick-me up-today, there it is! If you have welcomed Jesus into your heart, into your living space, and if you believe in His name and all that it stands for, then you have been claimed as His child, and you have been spiritual born of God.