Freely Receive

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 31st of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Book of Ephesians 2:8-9:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Undeserved loving kindness, unmerited favour - that’s grace. It is amazing! You can’t earn it, you can’t work for it, you can’t even study for it. You can just humbly and gratefully receive it.

Zacchaeus received it when he came down from the sycamore tree and invited Jesus home, with all the other tax collectors, the professional thieves, and what happened? He received grace. That day, he was so overwhelmed by the goodness of God. He said, “I am going to repay 400%, (4 times, not 10%, 400 times) of anything I have ever taken from anyone else, because he received the love of Christ.

John Newton, a slave ship captain, received it. He wrote that hymn: 

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
In a believer’s ear,
I once was lost but now I am found,
I once was blind but now I see”

I received it. That is why I love Jesus Christ so much. I want to be really honest with you today. I was a self-made man, I started farming from nothing and I learnt one thing very early from my parents, you don’t ask for things and you pay for whatever you buy, and if you can’t pay for it, you don’t take it. Now to the measure, that’s okay but it does teach you to be a little bit proud and to learn to accept the gift of God freely was quite difficult for me. I wanted to pay for it, but I couldn’t. Jesus said, “Freely you have received Angus. Freely give.” 

All the Lord wants you and me to say today is, “Thank You for saving my life. Thank You for giving me eternal life.” We just need to say thank you for the unearned favour of God. I don’t know if you have ever done this in your life before but I want to pray the sinner’s prayer with you today. Maybe you have and maybe you are not there now. Maybe the Lord is calling you home. Please pray this prayer after me, this prayer of gratitude for the grace of God.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Today I repent of all my sins and I ask You to be Lord of my life. Please forgive me for not appreciating what you did for me on the Cross of Calvary when you died for my
sins. 

Today I accept You as my Lord, my Saviour and my best Friend.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

Have a wonderful day and remember those sins have been paid for. Do not go back there again. 
God bless you and goodbye.