Choices!

But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name. JOHN 1:12 AMP

Wherever there's a BUT, the words before look nothing like the words after. If there was a receiving after a BUT, it means there was a rejecting before the BUT. In every age of human existence, the freedom to choose who to follow has always been guaranteed. From creation and the Garden of Eden, man has been given the freedom to choose who he would follow. Man chose to be independent of God, and the consequences of that choice continue to operate till now.

Today's extract lays down a truth: you can choose differently. It does not matter what has gone before; a new phase can begin, if I can only choose right. The gift has been given long ago, the gift that brings life. I must receive and welcome him into my life. It is not enough to read or hear about him, or to applaud other people's testimonies about him. In the final analysis, it is an individual decision, a personal experience. It says to 'as many'. There is no limit to God's capacity and grace to redeem; it appears we are the ones who do not understand what God can do.

Receiving God into your life brings several other benefits, but there is one fundamental benefit: being called a 'child of God'. Until you become one, you may never understand the effect. A child inherits the blessings and benefits of the family s/he belongs to; nobody else can. It is important that I give careful consideration to my relationship with God. Do I believe in God? Do I understand the power of his name? Does God know me as his own? Fundamental questions, eternal answers. His time of favour is here.