As we come closer to the birthday of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we realize this is a time for great rejoicing. We understand that the coming of the Savior meant the salvation of His people from their sins. However, for many people, this time of year is not such a joyous occasion. For far too many people this time of year evokes emotions of sadness, despair, and loneliness. Whether you are someone who may have lost a loved one, gone through a divorce, or may just be experiencing the holiday blues, this blog is meant to give you some encouragement from God's word. The Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:4-7,
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Paul is not merely suggesting to us to always rejoice but this is actually a command and before you say "well, that was easy for Paul to say, he was an apostle of Jesus Christ", keep in mind that he was commanding this while locked up inside a roman prison! If you know anything about roman prisons in the first century, you would know that it was absolutely no picnic in the park. As a matter of fact, Paul would have been subjected to some of the worst possible inhumane treatment known to man, Our modern-day American prisons look like hotel resorts compared to these roman prisons. Yet, Paul could command us to always rejoice because he has discovered the secret for himself being able to always rejoice even under the worst of circumstances. We, Christians, have every reason to rejoice and in this blog, I shall give you four biblical reasons why we can always rejoice. My hope and prayer for you are that after you read this you will love the Lord even more because of His immeasurable and amazing grace that He bestows on us unworthy sinners.
Reason #1:
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" -Romans 8:1
As Christians who have submitted to the Lordship of Christ, we will never be condemned by God. This is because our Lord and Savior have already taken our condemnation upon Himself on the cross. When Jesus went to the cross and said "It is finished", He fully satisfied the wrath of God on our behalf. This means that no matter what we say or do in this life, it will never be held against us. Our debt to God has fully been paid and God will never hold our sins against us. Moralism is deadly because it denies this most basic and fundamental truth of the Gospel and it robs Christians of the joy of their salvation.
Reason #2:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him"
As Christians, we have a rich and glorious inheritance awaiting us: the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21). At the consummation of the New Heavens and New Earth, there will be no more sin, sickness, sorrow, pain, or suffering because God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. As a matter of fact, the word of God tells us that "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor mind has conceived what God has planned for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). Also, for those of us who are in Christ, God sees us as fully blameless and holy before Him because when He sees us He sees the righteousness of Christ. This is true no matter what we do or say ever in this life. We are always holy and blameless in His sight.
Reason #3:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go forth, therefore, and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." -Matthew 28:18-20
For those who are in Christ, we have the promise that The Lord will always be with us. He will never forsake us or abandon us as orphans. This is amazing news for those of us who struggle with loneliness because we know that we have the eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God with us no matter where we go and no matter what we do. He is always right there with us in everything. As a matter of fact, even when we are about to commit sin, God is right there with us. He has chosen to remain faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to Him because He cannot deny Himself.
Reason #4:
"No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" -Romans 8:37-39
For anyone who is of God's elect in Christ, there is nothing in this creation that will ever separate us from His love. This means that no amount of sin we commit will ever cause the Father to not love us anymore. We can never out sin His immeasurable grace. As a matter of fact, where sin abounds, grace abounds even more! Our mental illnesses or even our physical illnesses cannot even separate us from the Father's love either. God is good and merciful to us even when we are faithless towards Him. There is absolutely nothing at all that will ever cause the Father to be displeased with us because He is forever pleased with His Son, Jesus Christ.
I hope that by now you can see that we Christians have every reason to rejoice this season because of what our Lord and Savior has done for us and hopefully now your spirits may be lifted during this time. I thank you for reading this blog and I hope that the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! Merry Christmas! Soli Deo Gloria!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Paul is not merely suggesting to us to always rejoice but this is actually a command and before you say "well, that was easy for Paul to say, he was an apostle of Jesus Christ", keep in mind that he was commanding this while locked up inside a roman prison! If you know anything about roman prisons in the first century, you would know that it was absolutely no picnic in the park. As a matter of fact, Paul would have been subjected to some of the worst possible inhumane treatment known to man, Our modern-day American prisons look like hotel resorts compared to these roman prisons. Yet, Paul could command us to always rejoice because he has discovered the secret for himself being able to always rejoice even under the worst of circumstances. We, Christians, have every reason to rejoice and in this blog, I shall give you four biblical reasons why we can always rejoice. My hope and prayer for you are that after you read this you will love the Lord even more because of His immeasurable and amazing grace that He bestows on us unworthy sinners.
Reason #1:
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" -Romans 8:1
As Christians who have submitted to the Lordship of Christ, we will never be condemned by God. This is because our Lord and Savior have already taken our condemnation upon Himself on the cross. When Jesus went to the cross and said "It is finished", He fully satisfied the wrath of God on our behalf. This means that no matter what we say or do in this life, it will never be held against us. Our debt to God has fully been paid and God will never hold our sins against us. Moralism is deadly because it denies this most basic and fundamental truth of the Gospel and it robs Christians of the joy of their salvation.
Reason #2:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him"
As Christians, we have a rich and glorious inheritance awaiting us: the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21). At the consummation of the New Heavens and New Earth, there will be no more sin, sickness, sorrow, pain, or suffering because God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. As a matter of fact, the word of God tells us that "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor mind has conceived what God has planned for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). Also, for those of us who are in Christ, God sees us as fully blameless and holy before Him because when He sees us He sees the righteousness of Christ. This is true no matter what we do or say ever in this life. We are always holy and blameless in His sight.
Reason #3:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go forth, therefore, and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." -Matthew 28:18-20
For those who are in Christ, we have the promise that The Lord will always be with us. He will never forsake us or abandon us as orphans. This is amazing news for those of us who struggle with loneliness because we know that we have the eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God with us no matter where we go and no matter what we do. He is always right there with us in everything. As a matter of fact, even when we are about to commit sin, God is right there with us. He has chosen to remain faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to Him because He cannot deny Himself.
Reason #4:
"No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" -Romans 8:37-39
For anyone who is of God's elect in Christ, there is nothing in this creation that will ever separate us from His love. This means that no amount of sin we commit will ever cause the Father to not love us anymore. We can never out sin His immeasurable grace. As a matter of fact, where sin abounds, grace abounds even more! Our mental illnesses or even our physical illnesses cannot even separate us from the Father's love either. God is good and merciful to us even when we are faithless towards Him. There is absolutely nothing at all that will ever cause the Father to be displeased with us because He is forever pleased with His Son, Jesus Christ.
I hope that by now you can see that we Christians have every reason to rejoice this season because of what our Lord and Savior has done for us and hopefully now your spirits may be lifted during this time. I thank you for reading this blog and I hope that the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! Merry Christmas! Soli Deo Gloria!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
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