Our justification is past and unchanging. Our reconciliation is past, present, and future. Joy in the Christian life is constant joy because we have been set free from our past, kept in the present, and hopeful for the future. At this very moment, Jesus is seated in heaven at the right hand of the Father sending his Holy Spirit down to us to confirm to us in this moment that he lives. You can be sure without a doubt in your mind that you will be saved until the end because the sinless savior lives.

God shows his love to us in a multitude of ways but the supreme way he shows his love to us is in the death of Christ for us. What greater love is there? You, in all your sin and all your messiness – you – were loved enough by God that he would die for you. He didn’t just tell us that. He showed it two thousand years ago at 3:00 in the afternoon on a hill outside of Jerusalem. And, even more surprising, he still shows his love in the death of Christ.