Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals:
Wednesday February 18 2026
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John 1:12-But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
The Bible teaching about “accepting Christ” is vastly different from the modern terminology of the same.
“That is why none of these man-made catch phrases are in the Bible. You will not find a verse in Scripture where people are told to “bow your heads, close your eyes, and repeat after me.” You will not find a place where a superstitious sinner’s prayer is even mentioned. And you will not find an emphasis on accepting Jesus. 8 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 for us to accept him. Accept him? Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don’t we need him?” (David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream, 36-37 (Kindle Edition); Multnomah Books).
In the Bible, accepting Christ is about embracing His Word and His salvation. That salvation is a gift and freely offered (Ephesians 2:8-9), yet it is accepted by obedience to Him. Indeed, we cannot separate the salvation of Christ without obedience to Christ.
Hebrews 5:9-And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
Jesus teaches us the futility of calling Him, “Lord,” without accepting obedience to Him:
Luke 6:46-But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
Doesn’t our Savior teach us that we receive and accept His sweet rest when we are willing to come to Him, embrace Him, learn from Him, and take His yoke upon ourselves to follow Him?
Matthew 11:28-30-Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Does not accepting Christ mean accepting the cross that He calls us to bear?
Luke 9:23-26-Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
Luke 14:26-27-If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
We cannot accept the salvation of Christ without first accepting submission to the will of Christ.
Lord, help us to accept You. Amen.
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