John 3:27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven
What is success to you? A lot of times we think that we have to make our own success, that we have to make things happen. Indeed, all of us bear some responsibility to take action, to do things that honor God and make the world a better place. However, there is a slight difference in thinking that can make all the difference in your life, and that is that our main responsibility in life is to receive what God gives. This is not some passive thing. This is actively recognizing what it is that God has given to me and being a good steward of it. Let me give you two examples.
John’s disciples came to him. John, of course, was very prominent and was baptizing “near to Salim.” The Bible says that Jesus was also baptizing, although His disciples were doing the actual baptizing, in the same area that John was. They were making disciples. Because John’s disciples felt jealous for him, they came to him and said, “Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.” They were concerned. Their idea was, “You keep telling people about Jesus and they have actually listened to you, but now they are all going to Him and not paying attention to you.”
John’s answer is brilliant and gives us perspective about life. John answered these jealous disciples in verse 27, “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” What does “nothing” include? It includes everything! It includes my abilities, my opportunities, my life. “A man can receive nothing, unless it be given him from heaven.” Someone has said, “A wise person makes more opportunities than he finds.” There is a place for that, but the bottom line is that God made you for a reason and a purpose. He gave you gifts and a certain background and personality. So, our main responsibility in life is to receive what God gives.
First, God has given His Son. When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, a very religious man who needed to trust Jesus to forgive his sin, He said, “Ye must be born again.” Then He proceeded to talk about what had been given by God, God’s Son, and what man is obligated to receive, God’s gift of salvation through Christ. Famously, the Bible says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In John 1 it essentially says the same thing in verses 11-12. Jesus “came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” So, believing is receiving; it is accepting God’s gift of salvation in the person of His Son. God has given His Son.
Second, God has given you your place in life. In verse 32, speaking of the Son, it says, “And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.” There is a lot of language like this in John 3 about what God has given and what we have the willingness to receive. Verse 35 says, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.” That is what led John to say “a man can receive nothing, except it be given to him from heaven.” God sent John to be the one who prepared the way. God sent Jesus to be the Savior of the world. Whatever your place or gift, success in life is largely taking responsibility to receive what God gives. Maybe you don’t always know what that is, but God has offered salvation and given a stewardship.
So, our main responsibility in life is not to be all and end all. Our main responsibility is to recognize what God has given and to receive it as good stewards.