A Reason to Rejoice

A Reason to Rejoice
Sunday, February 02, 2020
by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
Luke 10:17–20

People are happy for all kinds of reasons, but some of those reasons are better than others. When Jesus sent His followers out empowered to preach and heal, they saw great results. People believed their message regarding the Messiah. Health was restored, and even demons were cast out of those they possessed. Yet while these were truly great victories, Jesus told His disciples that these victories were not the main reason they should rejoice. Instead, He pointed them to their salvation.

Truly we have no greater gift, and it should be our source of joy. Octavius Winslow wrote, “The child of God is, from necessity, a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a Heaven of inconceivable, unthought of, untold, and endless blessedness—with such a God, such a Saviour, and such a hope, is he not, ought he not, to be a joyful man?”

The reality is that every earthly victory is temporary. When we resist Satan today, he comes back tomorrow. When we overcome temptation in one area, another rears its head somewhere else. Spiritual victories must be won over and over day after day. But salvation is forever. It is settled and cannot be lost. So when our rejoicing is in the new birth given to us, we never run out of reasons for joy.
Today's Growth Principle:
Earthly victories may be fleeting, but our salvation and eternal destiny is settled forever.