Enjoy Your Best Gift Ever in 2021

Lately, I have read a lot of posts on social media about how none of us will be sorry to see 2020 in the rearview mirror.

With Covid-19, our U.S. presidential election, social unrest, and so many other negative news items in 2020, a lot of people are hoping that the upcoming new year will bring positive change.

But just like none of us had any idea what we would experience when we turned our calendars to January 2020, none of us know what we will face in 2021.

Only God knows what 2021 holds for each of us, and—if you are a Christian—you can enjoy great rest in knowing you are held safely forever in His arms!

In my last post, The Best Gift Ever Is a Person, I wrote about the truth that, through the Christ’s shed blood on the cross, we have been forgiven for the sins of our entire lifetime—past, present, and future  (Eph. 1:7; 4:32; Col. 1:13–14; 2:13–14; Heb. 10:18).

As incredibly wonderful as that news is, if Father God stopped there, we would just be forgiven dead people, separated from the eternal life of His Son (Rom. 6:13; Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13).

Thankfully, He didn’t stop at our complete forgiveness.

At the very moment we placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we were spiritually transferred from the kingdom of darkness (in Adam) to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (in Christ) (Col. 1:13; Ezek. 36:26–27; John 3:16; Acts 2:21).

We were literally, spiritually immersed into Jesus Christ!

An unbreakable, unshakeable, indestructible eternal spiritual union (John 10:28–30; 2 Tim. 2:13; Rom. 8:38–39; Heb. 13:5).

Our union with Christ is the most multi-faceted Gift we will ever receive and enjoy!

One of my favorite, power-packed Scriptures about what we have because we are in Christ is 1 Corinthians 1:30:

“By His [Father God’s] doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”

Let’s take a few minutes to unwrap and enjoy what we have in Christ through this single verse:

Christ is my wisdom: As I look to His Spirit within me and His revealed Word, I depend on Him to make His wisdom and guidance—His direction for my life—known to me (Ps. 147:5; Rom. 11:33; 16:27). He does this by uploading His wisdom and direction into my mind and confirming them by His Spirit within my new heart (Rom. 12:2; Ezek. 36:26).

Christ is my righteousness: I can never be more righteous than I am right now. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 1:16-17; 2 Cor. 5:21). I don’t have to work at being right with God because I am already as righteous as I’ll ever be through faith in His Son. When I believe and realize that Jesus is my righteousness, righteousness is consistently expressed through my daily living.

Christ is my sanctification: Sanctification means “made holy.” I (my eternal spirit) have already been made holy through being immersed into Christ’s Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16-17). And that holiness is consistently expressed through my daily living as I acknowledge and meditate on the truth that I am already sanctified (made holy) in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11; Heb. 10:10, 14).

Christ is my redemption: Imagine that you could access Jesus’ redemption online (we do almost everything else online!). So you head on over to JesusIsMyRedemption.com. There is only one item in the online store—ETERNAL LIFE. And its price: “You can’t afford this, no matter how much money you have or how good you are.” There is also a message on the same screen that says: “If you want to receive ETERNAL LIFE, you will have to use the redemption code: BLOODOFJESUS.” So you put your ETERNAL LIFE in the cart, type in the code, and press APPLY CODE. You get an instant confirmation that says, “Congratulations! ETERNAL LIFE has been downloaded into your heart drive (your spirit) with a LIFETIME GUARANTEE. You will never have shop for ETERNAL LIFE again. The blood of Jesus paid it all. Oh, and that’s not all! With your redemption, you get these added bonuses: Forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7), righteousness (Romans 5:17), freedom from the law’s curse (Galatians 3:13), adoption into God’s family (Galatians 4:5), deliverance from sin’s bondage (Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:14-18), peace with God (Colossians 1:18-20), and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Dear reader, if you are in Christ, you already have everything you need for life and godliness throughout 2021 and beyond! (2 Pet. 1:3).

You’ve already received the best Gift ever, so now it’s your choice to enjoy Him all day, every day!

And as you enjoy your best Gift ever in 2021, you won’t be able to help but share Him!

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If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to check out all of my books and my video series based on my first devotional.