"You're Welcome"

We have all grown up with people telling us it's polite to respond to someone who says 'thank you' with 'you're welcome'. It's a statement that doesn't carry deep meaning as we use it all the time as little more than social convention.

But the statement means far more if you stop to really think about it.

Have you ever been in a place where you DIDN'T feel welcome? You feel like you are an offense to others by simply being there---you feel an aloneness that is almost palpable. You become self-conscious about so many things about yourself and you are just plain uncomfortable.

If you have experienced that kind of feeling then it becomes easier to understand just how beautiful it is when you are in a place where you are accepted--where you are welcomed.

There is a warmth there, you know what peace in your soul is like, you feel open to others and not like you want to hide. It is a place where you are invited to come out of your shell and thrive and be the person you were made to be.

It is a place where fear melts away....

This gives us just a little glimpse of what it is like to be with Jesus. When He welcomes you He is offering all of these good things and more, in ways that only He can. He is the master-host for your soul and He will never do anything to alienate you.

In John 15:15 Jesus says "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I call you friends, for everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you."

Do you hear that? Jesus calls His followers "friends". If you are a follower of Jesus that means that you are welcomed into that place of safety and trust where you are known, and it's OK for you to be you.

So the next time you say to someone 'you're welcome' remember just how welcome you are with Jesus.

BT