All I Want For Christmas Is The Blessed Conviction Of My Future In Heaven With Jesus
OPENING PRAYER:
Lord, help me to not become so attached to this world that I forget what’s in store for me in the future. Amen.
READ: TITUS 3:1-3, 9-11 NLT
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Colossians 3:1-4 NLT
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. Romans 6:5-9 NLT
REFLECT:
The Christmas of 1982 was one that my wife’s family will never forget. We had invited 16 of my wife’s family to spend Christmas at our home in Colorado. At 11:00 on the 23rd the last people arrived, and snowflakes started to fall. This continued until Christmas morning when we awoke to 27 inches of snow. All sixteen of us were snowed in for 3 days.
My wife had the food already stocked for the time her family was there and we had a full chord of wood for the fireplace. We were all snug and warm. We spent a lot of time in fellowship, and we focused closely on Jesus by reading the Christmas story in both Matthew and Luke as well as several of the Old Testament Messianic prophecies. The highlight of the time together was a tradition that my mother-in-law started. She read the Christmas Prayer for us, which we have read every Christmas since then.
While our Christmas of 1982 is one we will always remember, it pales in comparison to the one we will have when we experience the one described in our focus Scriptures. The Christmas Prayer ends with the following words:
“So when You come again,
O blessed One,
May You find all things ready
And Your servants waiting
For no new master,
But for one long loved and known.
Even so come, Lord Jesus! Amen
(Author Unknown)
APPLY:
Hebrews 13:14 NLT reminds us: “For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.” The Life Application Bible expands on this verse by saying, “Christians should be characterized by looking forward to the future. Do not be attached to this world, because all that we are and have here will pass away. We should not love our present home so much that we lose sight of God’s future blessing. Don’t store up your treasures here; store them in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21).”
I recently heard these two quotes by Bob Russell at the Cove Conference Center: “Christians are living in the land of the dying, going to the land of the living.” and “Christians don’t have a death wish, we a death strategy.”
CLOSING PRAYER:
Lord, at this Christmas season help me remember the Words of Revelation 22:20 (NLT), “He who is a faithful witness to all these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon!’ Amen, come Lord Jesus!”
WORSHIP: