Originally published on Journeys of a Former Firebrand

What does the title of this piece mean? It’s the essence of the Christian life in four words. Granted, there is more to it than this. But this sums up the majority of it pretty well.

Let’s look:

Receive.

This one’s pretty easy. To get salvation, to get to heaven, to get to God and be reconciled to Him, you must go through Jesus. Jesus, Himself put it best:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6, NASB 95)

There is no other way to heaven other than faith in Jesus Christ. You can’t buy it. You can’t earn it. You can’t broker it. You can’t negotiate it.

Simply receive Jesus Christ in faith. You will find God.

Repent.

Repentance is turning from sin and to Christ. It is necessary for salvation.

This one may sound like a contradiction. “I thought all I had to do is receive Jesus in faith?” you may say. The fact is salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing (Ephesians 2:8-9).

This much is true.

However, in the same breath (or pen stroke, in this instance) Paul adds verse 10 to Ephesians 2:8-9.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, NASB 95)

Did you catch that? Good works that God has prepared will be our life going forward, the Christian life. A changed life is evidence of repentance.

In fact, at times, it’s hard to tell the difference between faith and repentance in the Bible. Certainly, there is a difference. But they’re so related they are often times used almost synonymously.

Take, for instance, Jesus’ own words as He defines salvation:

“No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62, NASB 95)

Christ equates true faith with repentance. Are they the same though? No. They aren’t.

They may not be the same. But Jesus clearly states that turning to Him in faith always produces a life that turns away from sin. There’s no other way of looking at it.

Receiving naturally leads to repenting.

Rely.

This one is probably the one we would think of as “the Christian life.” This is where we live from new birth to physical death in this life.

But there’s so much more to it than that.

Relying is relying on God for everything we need. Relying on the Father by asking Him in prayer for what we need (Matthew 7:7–11). Relying on the Son for salvation. Relying on the Holy Spirit for the power to live the Christian life (Romans 8:13).

These are only a few ways in which we rely on God. However, it would be wrong to say we only rely on God in this life. We also will rely on Him in the life to come!

John records something very interesting near the beginning of his book of Revelation. He says this:

“They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:16–17, NASB 95)

Now isn’t that interesting! Not only are these folks (who have passed on to their eternal reward, by the way) taken care of in life but even more so in death. We will rely on God for the rest of our eternal existence!

So rely on God now. He won’t let you down whether in time or eternity.

Repeat.

Some may be saying, “What? I have to get saved again and repent and rely?”

No. That’s not what I mean.

Well, some of them are repeatable. Certainly, we must repent of our sins throughout our lives. We must rely on God every day. However, we only receive Jesus once, so that one’s out.

So what do I mean by repeat?

It simply means that we should strive to repeat the process with everyone we meet.

We should want to see people receive Christ.

We should want to see others strive as we do to repent and live holy and God-honoring lives in this age.

We should want to teach others to rely on God and see that as the only way to live the Christian life.

We should want to have a part in this spiritual cycle of life.

We won’t always be here. We need to replace ourselves through spiritual reproduction. That takes us sharing what we have with others after we have learned those lessons ourselves.

Share with our friends.

Share with our family members.

Share with our neighbors.

Share with our coworkers.

Share with anyone who will listen.

We should strive to learn these things and see them repeated in others.

So What?

This is what the authentic Christian life looks like. This is what we should look like. There will be a learning curve. After all, we are still stuck with our sinful flesh.

Certainly, the Christian life should look decidedly different than life before Christ. If you are struggling with this, turn to your pastor or a mature Christian sibling you trust. Come up with a plan that will put you on the right path.

Receive. Repent. Rely. Repeat.

This is the essence of the Christian life.