Accept Christ

“The formula ‘Accept Christ’ has become a panacea of universal application, and I believe it has been fatal to many…

The trouble is that the whole ‘Accept Christ’ attitude is likely to be wrong. It shows Christ [appealing] to us rather than us to Him. It makes Him stand hat-in-hand awaiting our verdict on Him, instead of our kneeling with troubled hearts awaiting His verdict on us. It may even permit us to accept Christ as an impulse of mind or emotions, painlessly, at no loss to our ego and no inconvenience to our usual way of life.

For this ineffectual manner of dealing with a vital matter we might imagine some parallels; as if, for instance, Israel in Egypt had ‘accepted’ the blood of the passover but continued to live in bondage, or the prodigal son had ‘accepted’ his father’s forgiveness and stayed on among the swine in the far country. Is it not plain that if accepting Christ is to mean anything there must be a moral action that accords with it?”
- A.W. Tozer