Daily Devotion – December 28, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Ephesians 1:3-14
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
1:4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
1:5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
1:8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight
1:9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
1:11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
1:13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
1:14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
This passage from Ephesians is a great partner to the Gospel of John text for this week – an explanation of how God has chosen human beings who believe in God’s son Jesus to receive forgiveness, an inheritance, and eternal life. It says we came from earthly human families but were destined for adoption into God’s family before the creation of the world!
Our job is simple: to live for the praise of God’s glory, because God has adopted us through the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
So how do we live our lives, knowing that God has promised us redemption, forgiveness, and grace which God has already begun lavishing upon us? There is a lot in this passage about our being part of God’s greater plan to redeem the world…things in heaven and things on earth. There is a lot about our being lavishly bestowed many gifts. Since God’s plan is about reconciling the world unto God’s self in the fullness of time, we must have a part in that work. We might be laborers of many sorts, but in our everyday labors we are to make God’s love known. We are to shine as a beacon of God’s light, so that those who know us might wonder what makes us so grace-filled and full of praise for God.
Wouldn’t it be amazing to be known for that?
Wouldn’t it be amazing for St John to be known for that? That people might come to us, drawn by the love we shine forth, just to learn why we love God so much?
Gracious God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for adopting us and giving us such an inheritance. Help us know how to share that inheritance with the wider world that you love.
Amen.
