Last summer, my husband and I were briefly out of a home when our new apartment turned out to be infested with bugs! We were frantically looking for a new place to live, and were worried about what to do in the limbo in between moving out of our bug-infested place and into our new home. Thankfully, multiple friends reached out and showed us such love and care, welcoming us into their homes, making us homecooked meals, and even storing our stuff while we looked for a new place to stay. While I was incredibly grateful for our friends and their hospitality, receiving so much without having any way of paying it back made me feel uncomfortable and like a burden. Have you ever felt this way? Sometimes, we can become so focused on giving and providing and nurturing that we feel awkward when it’s our turn to receive. Maybe we sidestep receiving, politely declining others’ offers of help. Or maybe we promise ourselves that we’ll make it up to them so it’s not really receiving. But this inability to receive is a heart issue that we need to address in the presence of our loving Father.  

The reality is that receiving is central to our lives with Christ—we cannot even come into God’s presence without receiving Christ’s gift of life! Receiving shows humility; we don’t have it all together but we rely on our Father who loves us unconditionally and abundantly. Ultimately, we will receive our inheritance from God (Col. 3:23-24) and live forever with Him.  

Receiving doesn’t stop with our relationship with God, but flows into our relationships with one another. While living on earth, God has designed us to serve one another in love (Gal. 5:13). Serving goes two ways: one serves, and the other lovingly receives that service. If we close ourselves off to receiving, we deprive others of the blessing of giving. Receiving is a powerful testimony to unbelievers; our serving and receiving show God’s love and are a testimony that we belong to Jesus (John 13:35). 

Today’s passage beautifully shows this posture of receiving. Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, received Mary into her home even when she herself was six months pregnant (Luke 1:26)! Even when she wasn’t at her strongest, she welcomed her cousin—holding her Savior—into her home. And Mary stayed with Elizabeth for 3 months! That’s a significant time, but Mary doesn’t seem worried about overstaying her welcome or immediately repaying Elizabeth’s hospitality. She simply receives the gift Elizabeth extended, all the while allowing Elizabeth to receive the gift of Mary’s presence.  

Today, let’s posture our hearts like Mary and Elizabeth, and seek to joyfully receive what God has placed in front of us. Let’s receive God’s gifts with glorious praise, like Mary does in Luke 1:46-55. Let’s join with Mary as we joyfully receive from God and others this week!