Read Ephesians 1:3-14
3 Let
us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union
with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly world. 4Even before the world was made, God had already
chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and
without fault before him.
Because
of his love 5Godb had already decided that through
Jesus Christ he would make us his sons and daughters—this was his pleasure and
purpose. 6Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free
gift he gave us in his dear Son! 7For by the bloodc of Christ we are
set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, 8which
he gave to us in such large measure!
In all
his wisdom and insight 9God did what he had purposed, and made known
to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ. 10This
plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation
together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head.
11 All
things are done according to God’s plan and decision; and God chose us to be
his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what
he had decided from the very beginning. 12Let us, then, who were the
first to hope in Christ, praise God’s glory!
13 And
you also became God’s people when you heard the true message, the Good News
that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of
ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit he had promised. 14The
Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people,
and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his.
Let us praise his glory!
Think
Focusing on verse 13 and 14, Paul speaks of god giving what
he has promised his people. So many of
us think of that promise as some sort of heavenly reward / riches / our own
selfish treasures. This promise of the
Spirit is the promise of adoption into Christ; transformation into
Christlikeness. I like the image of the seal
which when pressed onto wax makes a certain shape – perhaps we are the wax and
the shape of the seal is Christ.
Pray
Lord, pour the gift of your Holy Spirit into my heart so
that I may become more like you.
No comments:
Post a Comment