Sealed in Christ

God doesn’t do things by accident. He has a purpose in everything He does and everything that happens on our planet. He doesn’t always reveal His purpose in the things that He is doing, although He does tell us some potential reasons. But sometimes He explicitly explains His purpose in what He is doing. The most significant example of this is our salvation. We often think of God’s purpose in saving us as giving us an everlasting home in heaven or in His presence. However, over and over again in Scripture God reminds us that the reason He is working to save us is not to give us an everlasting future, but more to give us a transformed reality. Ephesians 1:11-14 is a great example of God’s emphasis on transforming believers. We often think of our inheritance as being everlasting life in heaven; however, Paul seems to say in Ephesians 1:11-14 that our inheritance is more than that. He ties our inheritance to our predestination which he connects to the purpose of God’s will. In Ephesians 1:4 that purpose is said to be that we might be holy and blameless before God in love. And all of this works to make us to the praise of His glory. We will certainly be praising God’s glory in our everlasting home, but more than that, others will be praising God’s glory when our lives are transformed. When we focus solely on heaven and everlasting life as the purpose of our salvation, we’re sure to miss the significance of how we live now. God saved us to change us. May His glory be seen as He works that purpose in us. –Pastor Rory

Sunday at Liberty