Devotional #14: Living a Life Worthy of the Calling You Have Received
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. – Ephesians 4:1 NIV.
The book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, has long been my favorite book in the Bible. This book is best read in one sitting. In the first three chapters, Paul builds up the Christians in Ephesus with reminders of Paul’s love for them and of the benefits they received when they accepted Christ as their Savior. Paul, a Jew from Tarsus, had managed to reach the pagan Gentiles of Ephesus with the message of the love of Christ. I have always been moved by Paul’s love for the Ephesians and his prompting them to live up to the who they are in Christ. The book of Ephesians can best be broken into four parts:
· Part I, Chapters 1-3: Paul reminds the church of the benefits of their salvation and Paul’s love for them.
· Part II, Chapter 4, verses 1-16: Paul’s admonition to the Christians in Ephesus.
· Part III, Chapters 4-6: Paul’s instructions on living a righteous life.
· Part IV, Chapter 6, verses 10-17: Putting on the full armor of God
In reading chapters 1-3, one cannot help but feel elation and joy at hearing what our salvation means for us in the eyes of God the Father. Below, I have identified twenty-one (21) benefits that God has bestowed on those of us who have accepted the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, as stated in the first 3 chapters of Ephesus. Note that these are paraphrased but accurately describe each blessing. Read these slowly and bask in the joy of each one
Blessings of our Salvation in Christ according to Ephesians (NIV)
1. You are blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ-1:3
2. God chose you in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight- 1:4
3. God, in love predestined you for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will. 1:5
4. God has freely given you his glorious grace, through the One He loves. 1:6
5. In God, you have redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. 1:7-8
6. With all wisdom and understanding, God made known to you the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 1: 8-10
7. You are chosen. 1:11
8. When you accepted Christ as your savior, you were marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing your inheritance until the time of your redemption. 1:13-14
9. God called you, and has given you incomparably great power, which is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. 1:19-22.
10. Because of God’s great love for you, God made you alive with Christ, through his rich mercy, even when you were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 2:4-5
11. God raised you up with Christ and seated you with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show you the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 2:6-7
12. You have been saved by grace, through faith—and this is not from yourself, it is the gift of God. 2:8
13. You are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. 2:9
14. God has prepared you. 2:9
15. You, who once were far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 2:13
16. God has given you peace by uniting the Jews and Gentiles into one new humanity and ended our hostility toward one another. 2:14-17
17. Through Christ you have access to the Father. 2:18
18. You are no longer a foreigner and stranger, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also a member of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. 2:19-20
19. In Christ, you are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. 2:22
20. You may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 3:18-19
21. Christ is able to do immeasurably more than all you could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within you. 3:20
Now that you have reflected on the blessing of your salvation, hear Paul’s admonition at the beginning of Chapter 4: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” 4:1. Wow, do you feel as convicted as I do when you read this? Afterall, Paul has just reminded me that I am an adopted daughter of God the Father Himself, that I have a rich inheritance, and that, through the Holy Spirit, I possess in me the same power that raised Jesus from the dead! Understandably, such extraordinary blessings are difficult for us as mere humans to understand.
What does it mean to be God’s adopted daughter or son? When I think of daughters of kings, I think of Queen Elizabeth, who has been in the public eye her whole life, and especially so after her uncle Edward VIII abdicated the throne, making Elisabeth heir apparent to the British throne at only ten years old. At age fourteen, she was called upon by Winston Churchill to give her first radio broadcast to millions during World War II. Surely, the young Elizabeth understood the tremendous honor and impressive responsibility that comes with being a daughter or son of a King. What does that mean for us who are not only the sons and daughters of a king, but the one King of all Kings? Taking this question one step further, what does it mean for us, who are God’s adopted sons and daughters, when we face cancer?
During the course of my five-year battle against brain cancer, being a daughter of God has meant that I can boldly go before His throne with my prayers, Hebrews 4:16 (NIV), that God has infinite love for me, I John 4:16 (NIV), that I can trust God to provide for my needs, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” Matthew 7:9, and that with the power that raised Christ from the dead living in me, I can boldly pray for my own healing and the healing of others. Ephesians 1:19-22 (NIV).
In the next six coming devotionals we will continue to look at Ephesians by examining the Armor of God and what that means for Christians battling cancer.
For Additional Study & Discussion
1. Which of the above 21 blessings speaks to you the most and why?
2. When you think of God adopting you as His own daughter or son what thoughts come to mind? How does this compare with earthly adoption?
3. How can you best live a life worthy of the calling you have received today?