| “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” |
| —Jude 1:24 |
How many mothers and grandmothers take pride in dressing their children in matching, festive, adorable Christmas outfits? Most, I would say. They want to show the world, through their holiday greeting cards and long-kept family albums, the pride of their lives—their children.
Never have I seen such pictures of children showing their runny noses, dirty or torn shirts, or their sagging dirty diapers, or with them squirming and crying for the camera. Even though, from time to time, these same adorable children can look this very un-adorable way, moms always work to put their little ones in the right light for others to see.
Our God does this with us! He brags on us, dresses us in spiritual finery, and speaks of us in glowing terms, even while He knows, all to well, our defects and ugly secrets.
Even at creation, we find that God dressed us in the image of His very own spectacular splendor. Psalm 8:5 says of Jesus:
You made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor.
Now that outfit comes complete with a tiara! Since we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we, too, become dressed in His glory by our loving Father.
Jesus wants us to look perfect, so He provided a way through His death. Colossians 1:22 tells us:
Now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
He presents us to the Father as perfect in Him.
Not only did He wash and cleanse us, dress us in His glorious righteousness, but He has seated us for our portrait in the heavenly realms to show off His riches that we now wear! Ephesians 2:6-7 reveals:
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in the kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Our enemy, Satan, may accuse us day and night (Revelation 12:10), but our Savior and God, the Lord Jesus Christ, claims us as His own. Having put our faith in His work, He showcases us like a proud parent and presents us to all of heaven and earth as His beautiful children.
May the knowledge of this kind of marvelous grace cause us great joy as we dress for this Christmas season!
