31 Days of Devotion, Day 28 by Steve McCombs
Daily Reading: Ephesians 1: 3-14
Just recently my wife and I had the privilege of going to Israel. We started our journey around the Sea of Galilee and then went to Jerusalem, walking in some of the same places Jesus would have walked during His ministry on earth. Of course, we used a car to go from place to place, but throughout the week we walked approximately forty miles visiting these sites. One of our takeaways from the trip was the distance Jesus walked during His three years of ministry on this earth. This made us think about the intentionality of every step He took to express His love for us, all the way to Calvary!
In the above passage, Paul was writing to the Christians in Ephesus. He expressed the benefit for those who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Paul stated that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing and then took the time to spell this out for us:
We have been chosen and adopted as The Father’s spiritual children because of Jesus.
We are holy and blameless because of Jesus and His salvation plan. We are forgiven!
His righteousness is imputed to us, and a day will come when we stand before God holy and blameless as a part of the family of God. We will be freed and redeemed from the consequences of sin and death.
Our adoption into the family of God gives us the same rights as a full-fledged family member.
Through Jesus we have been blessed- We are redeemed! We are forgiven! We are enlightened to know His will! We are recipients of His eternal inheritance!
Through the Holy Spirit, we have been blessed- We are marked with a seal which indicates we are His! We are given a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance in Christ!
Paul spent this introductory time in the book of Ephesians to express these characteristics that each of the Christians at Ephesus shared because of Christ. This message is true for all who have received Christ into their lives. The blessings only come to us because we have a God who has an intentional love for us. Paul suggested a response from us in verse 12: that God should be praised! In other words, we need to be a praise offering. The question is, “How do we do this?” I believe Jesus modeled this for us by his intentional love for the Father and His intentional love for people through His ministry here on earth. Being intentional for Christ daily has its challenges, but with the understanding of the characteristics that Paul shared, we can do it!
Daily Prayer
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I bless you and thank you for choosing me. Thank you for the lavish grace you have shown me. Help me intentionally live as a blessing to others for the praise of your Glory. Amen.