So what does reigning in life mean when death looms as large as it does in our world right now? I think one thing it means is celebrating Christmas. Celebrating Christmas is to dare to express real hope in the midst of a world that is perishing. Celebrating Christmas means to proclaim the truth that death’s days are numbered and with every mustard seed of faith in the finished work of Christ, yet another eternal soul is freed from death’s tyranny and gifted the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. Celebrating Christmas is to offer our friends and neighbors God’s abundant provision for their lives through our testimony.
What does it change for you the God has built a room in His house for you? A place where you can have a homethat will never perish, spoil or fade? The builder has the best taste, an unlimited budget, and access to all wisdom and knowledge. The architect also designed the Grand Canyon, the Gulf of Mexico, the Serengeti, the Great Barrier Reef, the human body, the sun, moon and stars, every bird, flower, fish, animal, plant and so on. What does it change for your perspective that Jesus has gone ahead to prepare your place in God’s great house and will return to take you to inhabit it personally, specifically, forever because He wants you to be where He is?
As I consider the freedom I celebrate as a citizen of the United States of America on the 4th of July, and enjoy every day, I am reminded of a greater freedom I enjoy as one who has been redeemed from death to life. As a citizen of heaven, my death has been swallowed up in victory and I am freed from the bondage of sin and shame. Thanks be to God!