Quotable - Think

"To all who did receive him [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

Faith that receives Jesus is saving faith.  But what does it mean to "receive Jesus"?  Many people say they have received Jesus, but they give little evidence of being a new creature in Christ, and they have little interest in pursuing the excellencies and beauty of Christ as their all in all. If this is the case, have they really received Jesus?

John Piper comments:  

"One way to describe this problem is to say that when these people 'receive Christ,' they do not receive him as supremely valuable.  They receive him simply as sin forgiver (because they love being guilt-free), and as a rescuer-from-hell (because they love being pain-free), and as healer (because they love being disease-free), and as protector (because they love being safe), and as prosperity-giver (because they love being wealthy), and as creator (because they want a personal universe), and as Lord of history (because they want order and purpose).  But they don't receive him as supremely and personally valuable for who he is.  They don't receive him the way Paul did when he spoke of 'the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.'  They don't receive him as he really is -- more glorious, more beautiful, more wonderful, more satisfying, than everything else in the universe.  They don't prize him or treasure him or cherish him or delight in him.

Such a 'receiving' of Christ is the kind of receiving an unregenerate, 'natural' person can do.  This is a 'receiving' of Christ that requires no change in human nature.  You don't have to be born again to love being guilt-free and pain-free and disease-free and safe and wealthy.  All natural men without any spiritual life love these things.  But to embrace Jesus as your supreme treasure requires a new nature.  No one does this naturally.  You must be born again (John 3:3)." 

~taken from Think by John Piper, pp. 71-72.