RECEIVED!

When I study my Bible in the morning, I will often times find myself leaning back in my desk chair and staring out the window that faces the front cul-de-sac and the city golf course that borders it… and be lost in deep thought and verbal conversation with God in order to grasp the understanding and application of what I had been reading.

I had such an extended interaction yesterday as I continued to study from Colossians 2:6-7.  In the introduction to the book of Colossians, the editor of The Passion Translation notated that

“The beauty and revelation that comes into us when we receive the truth of this letter is astounding.  The Holy Spirit hands to us many wonderful nuggets of gold here.  (for) The heavenly hope of glory, the mystery hidden and reserved for this generation, is Jesus our anointed Messiah.” 

When I read this paragraph, I immediately caught on to the “nuggets of gold” hidden within the pages of this letter. One of those nuggets is found in chapter two where Paul encourages us by declaring,

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7 KJV)

At first glance, these verses tell me two things.  First, that this encouragement is acknowledging the fact that everyone of us have a unique, special and personal experience in the ways that we RECEIVE the Lord and the truth of his Word into our hearts and then apply it into the situations of life.  And secondly, we see once again, that the writer is comparing this spiritual activity to the continued growth of the physical intimacy shared between a husband and his wife.

It is hard to miss the fact that Paul repeatedly refers to the individual person reading the letter and not to a group of people.  He uses the word “Ye” (or “you” in modern language) three times in order to make his point.  As I stared out the window in conversation with the Lord over this part of the verse yesterday, the Lord spoke to my heart and reminded me that I really have no right to criticize, judge or in a more positive manner of thinking, give input into another person’s situation… solely through the filter of my own life’s experiences… without any regard to or knowledge of the differences between our individual life stories.

He humbled me when the truth flashed across my mind… that I had done the exact same thing in judging the very people who had wrongly judged and complained about my care plans for Piper when she got sick!  Ouch!  That hit home and definitely stung!

I often use the example of how Piper and I were, in many ways, really different than the rest of our siblings… yet we were raised in the same exact home setting and enjoyed the same positive upbringing from our parents.  But, while the foundation may have been the same, we each had unique friends, activities, gifts, talents, personalities and heart’s desires that helped to shape us into the unique individuals that we became as adults.

And how do these verses compare to the intimate relationship enjoyed between a husband and wife?  Well, I’m glad you asked!  In the instructions to his readers, Paul wrote that, 

“As ye have therefore RECEIVED Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.”

Paul continued to compare the two special relationships by purposely using the word “RECEIVED” in his teaching to us.  In the original Greek usage, the word is defined as

“to receive near, that is, to associate with oneself in any familiar or intimate act or relation.” (Strong’s)

In other words, our ever-growing relationship with God is to be continually RECEIVED as an up-close, personal and intimate relationship with Him.  That revelation got me thinking of the story I’ve told before, of my personal “Halleluia” moment when I met Piper at the first school dance of our senior year, held in the cafeteria of our school.  We had been hanging out together for a short period of time and thought that it would be cool to meet at the dance... as kind of a first official date. 

Well… Piper was a little late getting there… and to be honest, I had just danced and was flirting with another girl (a mutual friend) when Piper walked into the room.  I termed this as a “Halleluia” moment because of the startling effect that she had on me when she came in.  Although I’m sure it didn’t actually happen that way… to me it was like a spotlight came on and shined upon her as the crowd parted and she walked in slow motion across the dance floor to me!

At that instant in time, I knew that I knew, that she was the only girl for me!  I think my mouth was probably hanging open and my eyes glazed over because the gal I was with suddenly turned and quickly departed exclaiming, “Well, I’d better go!” When Piper got over to me, I immediately took her hand and “RECEIVED” her into my life… And the rest was a history of us enjoying each other’s company and the continual building up of a close, personal unity that eventually led us into a very intimate relationship as husband and wife for 43 years.

In a similar fashion to the way in which I “RECEIVED” Piper into my life… and she me, I might add (you know…I think she had a plan all along…) and never lost our focus, the excitement of the chase and our passion one for another, is the same way that Paul is encouraging each of us to never lose and keep pursuing our individual and personal relationship with Jesus… throughout the entirety of our lives!

And never fall into the trap of judging your relationship with Jesus in comparison to someone else’s.  Remember, God made you uniquely special.  Now, that doesn’t mean that your walk with the Lord won’t have many similarities with those of other Christian’s, but you are you and your relationship will have the wonderful flavor, color and fragrance that only you and Jesus can create together!

A lot of people knew Piper in some capacity or another.  Some in her family knew her really well… but none knew her as deeply, intimately and completely as we knew each other.  That was something that we developed over the hours, days, months and years that we spent in close contact with each other… and the Apostle Paul tells us that the same can be said about our one-of-a-kind, close, personal and intimate relationship with Jesus!

We are currently enjoying the first of the season cold-front that moved into this side of the country last night.  I had to add my fleece vest to my light hoodie for our walk this morning as the temperature was in the low to mid-forties.  But I have to say that Fiver, with his thick coat, is REALLY enjoying these cooler temps!  There just seemed to be a fresh excitement in the air this morning with the crispness of the fall season and thoughts of the arrival of the Holiday’s knocking on our doors!

Have a great week in this beautiful new season, and as you do… Keep EXPECTING God’s best in your life as you continue to RECEIVE Him and are enriched by His involvement in the daily activities of your life!