You Are What You Receive

God told Adam and Eve they would be dead if they received the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They received the fruit and died. The became what they received.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Gen. 2:16-17

John tell us that when we receive Jesus we will be children of God.

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: John 1:11-12

From Genesis to Revelation we see this truth--We are what we receive. No one can decide to be what they want to be. They can receive what they want to be. They can choose the source and by so choosing they choose their being.

In Psalm 1 we see a contrast between what people chose to receive in the Old Testament.

Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,

But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Notice the words “he meditates day and night...” This is a deliberate receiving from God’s intentions as revealed in the law. This man became what he received.

Christ lives in you by His Spirit so you can abide in Him. To Abide is to receive moment by moment directly from who Jesus is.

You will bear the fruit of what you receive. Abide and you will be like Jesus.

Remember, you are what you receive.

Bud McCord
Abide International