We Are Special

"And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."
2 Corinthians 1 : 21-22

The royal queen or king put their seal on any bills they would like to enforce as laws, or as a way of claiming ownership over something in order to prevent forgery. God putting His seal on us means that not even Satan can claim ownership over us. We are God's and cannot cease to be His because of the seal. Now if we have doubt about our ownership, God gave us His Spirit in our hearts to guarantee His ownership.
So now, not only do we have God's sign on us, we have God within us! You can't get anymore owned by God than that! What should this tell us then? It should tell us that the God of the Universe, the God who can hold the whole world in His hand, the God who created ALL things...HAS CLAIMED US AS HIS. Now how special do you think you are? Here's an answer: more special than you think :)

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Christ = Life

"When Christ who is your life appears,

then you also will appear with him in glory."

Colossians 3:4

We treat our lives very sacredly. We would do anything to preserve them and their reputations. We spoil ourselves when we can and we make our lives our number one priority.

Colossians 3:4 says that Christ is our life.

So now, the things we'd do to preserve our lives we should also do to preserve Christ and keep his reputation alive. 

We also get something the reputations of our "sacred" lives would never be able to give us: not only will we bask in his glory, but we will also appear with him IN glory!

We need to make Christ our personal brand.

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Song of the Month

"Till Thou shalt come in glory and call us hence away, to share with Thee the brightness of that unclouded day. We show Thy death Lord Jesus, and here would seek to be more to that death conformed whilst we remember Thee."

We were singing this song in church yesterday and it is talking about how as we wait for Christ to come again, we should seek and desire to be more and more connected and associated with His death. It is, after all, part of our identity. 

As Christ gave thanks for the bread and wine, He said, "Do this in remembrance of Me."

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The Greatest Cheer Squad in the World

"Teaching them to observe all that I have

commanded you. 

And behold, I am with you always,

to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:20

Jesus said this to his disciples during the very important moment in the Bible, which we like to call, "The Great Commission" -- where Christ tells his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. 

Christ promised to be with them always to the end of the age; through triumphs and trials. 

In contrast, during Christ's own commission given by God, no one was with him. Even God turned His face away when Christ bore all the sins of the world. Christ was completely alone at that moment; His disciples turned "against" him through either denial or lack of support. And yet, Christ fulfilled his commission. 

So why then, when we have Christ with us, and bearing all our hardships with us -- as well as the added support of the believers -- do we fail to follow through with our commission; our purpose?

Why do we let fear overcome us? 

Why do we hide our light?

We have more support in our commission than anyone else has for anything! 

WE HAVE GOD ROOTING FOR US! CARRYING US ON HIS SHOULDERS WHEN WE CAN'T GO ON!

Why do we ignore our personal cheerleading squad and 'marvel' at how large our opponents are and their squad when our own squad is, in reality, is larger than any enemy and anything? We already have the victory even before we stepped out on the battlefield! God made our commission even easier in that sense! We KNOW how the war ends! We know that we're going to win!

Why then, do we let fear hold us back?

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A Healthy Fear of God

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" 

Matthew 10:28

Firstly, "Him" who destroys both the body and soul is not satan. It is actually referring to God.

We shouldn't be scared of anything because we have God on our side. However if we are not on the same side as God, then we shouldn't be fearing anyone or anything BUT Him because He is the God of the world! There is an immenseness of power in that. He can do anything! But He also has unbelievable grace and mercy as well.
Furthermore, even being on God's side, life isn't easy. Being on God's side means we have a lot of responsibility. We carry the image of Christ because we are part of the body. So the decisions we make should not be based on what others may think--because we are not reflecting their image--they should be based on what is pleasing to God. In the end, it won't be the world we answer to, it'll be God.
We need to be discerning about whether our choices will glorify God or taint the body of Christ.

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