He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me – Matthew 10:40
Jesus uttered this statement when He sent out His disciples to preach the Good News of the Kingdom. He made it plainly clear that anyone who receives His disciples are, actually, receiving Him and those who receive Him are, in reality, receiving the heavenly Father.
Jesus always gave honor to His Father, the One who sent Him to the world. He did whatever the Father has asked Him to do. He never rebelled against or dishonored the Father. He did this as a good example for us to follow. As Christ ascended into heaven, He appointed His disciples to represent Him in all the nations. Through them, year after year, many became His disciples.
Now, as Christ’s disciples, you and I are His representatives on this earth. Whoever receives us receives Christ and whoever receives Christ receives the Father. Whoever rejects us rejects Christ and the Father (Luke 10:16).
In Matthew 10:41-42, Jesus declared that those who receive a prophet would receive a prophet’s reward and those who receive a righteous man would receive a righteous man’s reward. Likewise, even those who give a cup of cold water to His disciples wouldn’t fail to receive a reward.
These divine utterances give us an unmistakable picture of the immense value that the Lord gives to His disciples. Remember: when your friends, relatives or family members accept you as a Christ disciple, they will be blessed because of you. But, if they reject you, they are not rejecting you but Christ and the Father.
God wants us to accept one another with all of our strengths and weaknesses. Also, we must give honor to everyone in proportion to their positions in the Church and outside as well. This is a significant truth of God’s Kingdom and is exceedingly important in the Body of Christ, the Church.
Paul mentions in Galatians 4:14 that the Church in Galatia welcomed him as they would welcome Christ Himself. But we see an entirely opposite picture in Exodus16:8 where the Israelites grumbled against God’s representative, Moses. Moses told them that they were actually grumbling against God, not him.
You need to honor those whom God has appointed with different responsibilities in the Body of Christ. You must receive and regard them in proportion to their God-given positions. As you do so, you position yourself to receive the due reward.
Furthermore, you need to appropriately honor officials in government, business and different professions. The Bible asks us, not only to honor them, but to pray for them as well so that we can have a quiet and peaceful life (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
I encourage you to apply this golden principle in your day-to-day life. Also, remember that you are representing Christ on this earth. So recognize your value and boldly reveal your identity as His disciple to the world!
– – – written by Ancy Joe from www.gloriousliving.net
Wow, Georgy, this was such a beautiful spiritual Christian post. Thank you for sharing this with us!
April Braswell
iam glad having visited ths site!