January 26: Ephesians 1 11-14
Key Verse: Ephesians 1 13
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
Devotion:
I still find it remarkable how Christ made it possible for every one of us to be able to join God in heaven! The most amazing part of this being God, who knew of us before we knew Him, chose us to be the ones who would be given this amazing gift… because He already knew what decision we would make in our lives! Christ came to us, not to build Himself up, taking glory from God, but as a mere human who was willing to give all the glory to God.
This was God’s plan for us; Christ came to fulfil this plan. The Holy Spirit is with us to continue making it possible for us to achieve our destinations through Christ’s promise and for God’s glory. It’s mind boggling for us to try and get our heads around this all!
Do we have to understand it all before we can be with Christ? Certainly not! As long as we have heard the truth and choose to believe that truth, we have this amazing gift given to us which cannot and will not ever be take away from us! Christ sealed His promise the moment you chose to believe. Just like wax seals were put on letters to ensure the recipient knew it had not been interfered with, Christ’s seal stays with us as we are presented to God as new beings, not interfered with by the world.
How can He do this? Ours is not to try and figure out the logistics of the whole operation but to simply have faith in Christ knowing He will carry out His promise with us. The moment we believe, that seal is put on us… Yes we still live in the world and we do get up to all manner of things, both good and bad, but that seal remains!
Points to Ponder:
Do you ever doubt your life could ever be forgiven?
Will you simply have faith that Christ has put His seal on you?