ACCEPTING JESUS

"Three kids accepted Jesus at VBS last week". 

When I hear a church announcement like this, I celebrate, of course. 

But ... there's also something about that phrase - "accepting Jesus" - that makes me cringe.

It feels like the wrong word. We "accept" the "things we cannot change". In grade school, we are taught to "accept" everybody. If we compete and win, we might "accept" an award. 

For an action word, it has a strangely passive vibe.  Synonyms include allow, endure, and tolerate. 

So imagine my surprise this morning when I found out it was biblical. Straight from the mouth of Jesus even:

John 13:20 - "I tell you  the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me."

If it was good enough for Jesus, who am I to quibble, right?

But I still wasn't quite ready to accept this phrasing, so I investigated. 

The Greek translated by the NIV as "accepts" is lambanon. Almost every other translation uses "receives" for lambanon. "Whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." (A handful use "welcome".)

Lambanon/Receive is a word that describes the decision you make when someone knocks at your front door. 

You come to the door and you either send them away or you receive them into your house. 

Talk of "accepting Jesus" just doesn't do justice to the reality of what happens when we receive Jesus into our lives.