Have you ever stopped – really stopped – to think how much
God loves you? Paul knew that knowing
you are loved can make all the difference in your walk, so he made sure to tell
the believers in Ephesus just who they were to God as well as God’s purpose for
them individually and collectively. These words are just as true for us today!
Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places in Christ: 4 even as he chose us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: 5 having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of the glory of his
grace, which he freely bestowed on us
in the Beloved: 7 in
whom we have our redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 making known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 10 unto a dispensation of the
fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the
heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say, 11 in whom also we were made a heritage, having been
foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his will; 12 to the end that we
should be unto the praise of his glory, we
who had before hoped in Christ: 13 in whom ye
also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,-- in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy
Spirit
of promise, 14 which
is an earnest of our inheritance,
unto the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of his
glory. Eph 1:3-14 (ASV)
(I know we saw these verses last week!)
There are many promises in these verses. What do we have in Christ? What aspect of the
Holy Spirit is emphasized here?
There is a “progression” for all who come to Christ listed
in verses 13-14:
We hear
We believe
We are sealed by the Holy Spirit as a part of our inheritance
Look back at those verses. When did God first love us?
It’s amazing to me that He loved me before He created the world!
Grace, in the Greek, is charis, which means “favor”. We talk
about grace as “unmerited favor” when we talk of our salvation. That means that
our salvation can’t be earned in any way! Grace is something that God gives to
us freely – when we believe in His Son, Jesus Christ! God loves us in spite of who we are and what we do or
don’t do. God loved us before were were knitted in our mother’s womb. God knew
who we would be and made each of us unique. God’s love has been with us since
the foundation of the world. God loves us unconditionally through Christ Jesus.
Take the next couple days to really think about who you are
in God’s eyes; to who you are because of Jesus Christ. Thank Him and praise Him
for your position, for His love, and for His unmerited grace!
Please let me know what thinking about your position in
God’s eyes has done for your life, for your prayer life, for your worship
experience, and for your relationships.
See you Wednesday!
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