Wednesday Devotion 10.28.09

Devotion

10-28-09

A Celebration of Life / You’re Mine

John 5:24

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

 

Wow celebrations are so much fun, don’t you think so? A grand party to honor the birth of a child, to rejoice in the union of marriage, to recognize the accomplishments of a graduate, or to enjoy the holidays seasons are all special times when we go to great lengths to celebrate. But do we really celebrate LIFE?

 

I was thinking about the special day when a child is officially adopted into a family. The judge rules the child is now a part of that family, giving her the family name and a new birth certificate with her birthday now the day of her adoption. The father looks at her and says with tears, “you’re mine.” Every year when that day rolls around there is a great celebration to remember the day she became part of the family, a new birthday. Yet, even in that celebration are they truly celebrating Life? Perhaps we can see more clearly what it means to celebrate life by this story. Let me explain.

When I was 7 years old my life was filled with heartache, pain and fear from the physical, sexual and emotional abuse I was enduring by the father. It was a time that seemed dark and scary and yet it was during this time that was the most precious and important time of my life. It was at this time that I was given Life. For when I was seven, I was introduced to the Savior and received Him as my Lord and in so doing I received true LIFE, the life that lives forever. Because of this, all the other things that were happening in my earthly life were small to my eternal existence. Therefore, I can look at that time of life and rejoice because I was given a new birthday that day.

 

Just like the adopted child who is given a new birth certificate on the day she became a member of a new family, so we are given a new birth record on the day we are adopted into God’s family. Wow what a celebration we should be having on that day! Perhaps the new life we receive in Christ is the moment of birth that should stand out in our hearts and minds the most. Eternal life is something worth celebrating. In fact I hope that my birth as a child of God in April of 1966 becomes more important to me than the day of my earthly birth in June of 1959. I want to celebrate LIFE, the life that Christ died to give me.  The Life that even death cannot take from me. The Life that breathes inside me hope and peace for my future and carried me through some of the stormiest and darkest days of my earthly life, and the Life that can be celebrated even when I close my eyes for the last upon this earth.  I pray this Life is so real to me that those around me grasp the value of it and rejoice with me when God calls me home to live it with Him in heaven.  I pray that the power of this knowledge of eternal LIFE will instill within my own heart a peace so deep that when one of my loved ones is called home, I can celebrate their homecoming with joy more than sorrow. Oh that is a big request for sure, but somehow I do believe it is possible. You know there are a lot of children all around us who have yet to become adopted into God’s family. They don’t have Life to celebrate. They need a new birthday. Let’s celebrate Life by sharing that Life with others. Let’s honor God in our celebration of the Life He has given us.

Meditate upon your LIFE today, the day you received it, the day the Father said, “You’re Mine!”