Because of his love 5 God had
already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this
was his pleasure and purpose. 6 Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for
the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! 7 For by the blood of Christ we are
set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, 8
which he gave to us in such large measure!
In all his wisdom and insight 9 God did
what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already
decided to complete by means of Christ. 10 This plan, which God will complete
when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven
and on earth, with Christ as head.
11 All things are done according to
God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in union with
Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very
beginning. 12 Let us, then, who were the first to hope in Christ, praise God's
glory!
13 And you also became God's people
when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You
believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the
Holy Spirit he had promised. 14 The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall
receive what God has promised his people, and this assures us that God will
give complete freedom to those who are his. Let us praise his glory! (Ephesians
1:3-14 Good News Translation)
It seems
like such a long time since we got home from this year’s Lifest. I’m looking at
the calendar, going, “Really? It was only two weeks? Fourteen days? What in the
world has been going on since then? I barely even remember being there.”
Well, there
was that upper respiratory crud that I was fighting for the entire last two and
a half weeks, along with five days camping since then. Boy, good thing I took
notes.
The above
Bible passage was from Pastor Joel Zeiner, the man who led devotions Friday
morning. He is an associate pastor at Christ the Rock Community Church in Menasha,
WI.
Even though
I wrote down that he spoke on Ephesians 1, verses one through fourteen, I didn’t
write down everything he said about it. The theme was about what a complete
plan God has for us, with the emphasis being on how many times He mentions in
these few verses how He chose us. That’s all the notes I wrote down. Reread the
passage above, and I don’t think there is much more I can add to it.
Heavenly Father, thank You for
calling each and every one of us by name, to be Your children. And thank You
for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to set us free. Amen.
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