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"DO YOU POSSESS ALL THOSE FREE THINGS?" "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:22-23)Paul tells us that everything, even death, has been given to God’s people and belongs to them. If you have lived any length of time, you've personally seen death take its toll on many friends and family members. Sometimes we may think that death cannot be mastered or tamed. Death reminds us of just how frail we are and what little power we have.And yet Paul claims "all are yours." Even death is included in that verse and has been made a servant to the people of God. How can this be? We, in and of ourselves, do not have complete control over our life or our death, but the truth is that Christ, through His death and resurrection, has brought even our greatest enemy into subjection and made death to serve us for our good.Yes, Christ was victorious over death! For Heaven declared that day, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." (Matthew 28:6) Therefore, instead of death acting as the jaws of fate to consume us, because of Christ, it has now become the completion of our salvation whereby we are comforted with His own Words, "...I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" (John 11:25) Whereas death was once to be greatly feared, as the result of sin entering into the world; it is now made an occasion for rejoicing. As Children of the living God, we are confident that death will be the vehicle that takes us into the very presence of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8).The debt owed for our sin had to be paid, but the price tag was way beyond our means. So, God in mercy sent His Son to pay that cost on our behalf by taking our place on the Cross. Honestly, that should have been our cross, but Jesus Christ willingly and lovingly made it His Cross. No matter hard you try to come up with an interpretation concerning that great truth, it will forever spell GRACE when all has been said and done!Now, when we trusted Christ for salvation, at that very moment we belonged to Christ and Christ was, is, and always will be ours! Therefore, like Him, we too will be victorious over death because all things are ours.Friends, let's rejoice in that undeniable and unchangeable truth that we can possess our possessions that have been freely given us in Christ!