One Down Payment you can be excited about!

Do you like to shop? Oh I do! It doesn't matter what it is for I love to shop! I love to shop for my kids, for other people, myself. It doesn't matter if it is a new vacuum sweeper (which I just got and was so excited) or going to a garage sale, I love to shop. And even though I love to shop, I am also very very frugal. I have read the books, watched the Dave Ramsey videos, and done all my home work on how to be a good steward of my money so when today I read these words in my quiet time with God they just jumped off the page: God gave us a down payment for what is to come. Down payment? That is like a dirty word for those who follow the rules of becoming debt free. You aren't suppose to have a down payment, you are suppose to pay it in full! So I read the verse in its entirety and those dirty words fired me up!

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a down payment, guaranteeing what it is to come." 1 Corinthians 1:21-22.

Don't you just love that verse?!! The Joy that we feel as a follower of Christ, knowing and trusting that God ALWAYS has our best interest in mind and is in complete control of our everyday lives is just a down payment for what is to come. The Hope that we feel as a follower of Christ, that even when things are not going so well, He will work all things to the good of those who love Him is just a down payment for what is to come. The Comfort that we feel in knowing the same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same Spirit that lives in us is just a down payment for what is to come.
In 1 Corinthians 2:9 it says it this way, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."

So whatever you are facing today, good, bad, and everything in between I pray this is an encouragement for you. You can have Hope, Feel Love, and have Comfort because You were paid for in FULL by the blood of Christ, but these are just a down payment for what is to come! Now that is a down payment I can be excited about!