Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Receiving Only From God

"A man can receive only what is given him from heaven." - John 3:27


When John's disciples came to him and asked if he was the Messiah, he responded that he was not and that one could only be what God had given him to be. He was a forerunner to the Messiah, and he was fulfilling a call God had given him. We cannot acquire and become anything that God has not given us. God gave John that anointing. We must ask whether we are trying to be or trying to acquire anything God has not given us. When we seek to acquire anything that God has not given us, we can expect God to respond to us like any good father would to a child. He will remove that which the child is not supposed to have.

David understood this principle. When he was preparing to furnish the temple, he told God in his prayer, "Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand" (1 Chron. 29:14b).


- Os Hillman (Marketplaceleaders.org)


2 comments:

  1. Eric,
    Great reminder on listening to the ONE you need to listen to. I lived most of my life trying to follow others... Life becomes really satisfying when you stop trying to make everyone else happy and focus on making your relationship with God strong. It has for me anyway.
    Jason

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Jason, absolutely. I got a bit more personal on my next post about this topic in my life. In just 6 days of making a commitment to stop pleasing everyone else and focus on making my relationship with God strong first, the rest takes care of itself, but I have a feeling there will be some hardship and disappointment coming from others that I normally have catered to in the past.

    ReplyDelete