Please Accept Me

Have you ever had to plead for something? Have you ever had to really cajole someone into going somewhere with you?
Kids do this all the time, with no shame. "Dad can we please, please, please go to the water park (or fill in the blank with the latest, greatest thing)?"

I think that is how some people present our Lord Jesus. That He is pleading and cajoling people to accept Him. Is Jesus saying, "would you please, please, pretty please, accept me into your heart?"

Listen to this quote from David Platt's book, Radical,

"We have taken the infinitely glorious Son of God, who endured the infinitely terrible wrath of God and who now reigns as the infinitely worthy Lord of all, and we have reduced Him to a poor, puny, Savior who is just begging us to accept Him. Accept Him? Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance?"

The infinitely worthy Savior doesn't need acceptance, He demands surrender.

God's Way

A brief devotional thought from:

Jeremiah 10:23

I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.

As I was reading through Jeremiah this verse caught my attention. I do not think it is about free will as much as it is about an unsuccessful will. When we trust in ourselves, our own ways, and our desires we fail. We are not very good at directing our own path.

In the context of this chapter this is exactly what the people of Judah had displayed. They had turned from God to their own ways and it has led to absolute failure.

The other option is the only one that works. It is the option to choose God. To give control of our ways and our lives to Him. The only way to true life is with God in control. Only those who let God direct their lives will be blessed by Him.