December 11th
December 11th
You may feel insignificant, underwhelming, nothing special, or simply unnoticed. But there is something about you that defines your being, your present and the whole rest of your life. It is not your past, your mistakes, or even your best accomplishments. It is not your family lineage, your job, your address or even your genetics.
What determines your success, what labels you a winner, what places you in the company of the elite and gets you invited to the party is only one thing. And you are in control of whether you achieve it or not. There is no need to worry and the pressure is off because you are in complete control of your success, nothing anyone else does can interfere with your future because it rests on one thing that only you can control.
So I will ask you the one question that matters most in your life, the all-determining question...
Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
Then that is all that matters. That determines your outcome. That places you among royalty, with the King of kings, co-heirs of the Kingdom of God. Nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter where you are, what you have done before, who your parents are, what church you were raised in or anything else. The one thing that determines your fate is whether your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. What you experience the rest of your life rests on that one thing…
Revelation 21:22-27 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Look at what we are called to! Heaven is our inheritance! And no one can take it from us! Jesus said no one can snatch us from His hand.
John 10:27-29 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
If we walk away from Him that is on us, but nobody else can change our fate for us or snatch us from Him.
Those who don’t have their name in that Book of Life also face an eternal fate but it is an undesirable one.
Revelation 20:15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
This Christmas as you consider gifts to give, think about the fact that there is not one more thing you need in your life to determine your future and think about how you can give this gift to others. There is no greater gift than to invite someone to join you in the Lamb’s Book of Life!
Jesus, help me to remember that I have everything I really need in you and that I am not at all insignificant since I have my name in your Book of Life! Help me to live like I believe that! Help me to give this gift to others this Christmas. Prick my memory when I interact with others so that I see them through your eyes and remember that they need you. Give me opportunities to share you with them and help me to recognize those opportunities! Thank you for your love and patience with me. Thank you for providing the way for me to be included in your Book of Life!