Tag: ephesians 2:4-5

Isn’t Everyone a Child of God Since He Loves Everyone?

Posted on by admin

What do you think of when you think of love? Do you think of wishy-washy feelings? Do you think of something conditional – based on right behavior? Do you think of something hopeful, but not really grounded on hard facts? Do you think of an emotion instead of an action? When it comes to actual love, here’s a phrase from the Bible for you: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev. 1:5).

The Apostle John is writing here about the love of Jesus Christ. By the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he tells us that Christ’s love for us is inextricably tied to Christ’s action for us; and that, my friends, is the crux of the matter. The love of God is given by the action of God – and not just any action. This is the most critical and paradoxical measure of which we can conceive. God moves to make spiritually dead people alive by shedding the blood of His altogether perfect Son. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

The love of God is not some feeble emotion that makes everyone feel that they are safe when, in fact, they are not. The love of God is not without activity – life or death activity. The love of God is not without immeasurable sacrifice. Most importantly, the love of God cannot be properly applied to a person’s life without also administering the blood of Jesus Christ. In all honesty, if you have not agreed to God’s covering of your sinful heart with the sacrifice of the blood of His Son, then you have not been made alive with the love of God. God loves you, but His love cannot save you or quicken you to real life until you apply the only thing that can free you from sin and death – the blood of Jesus.
All people are creations of God, but not all people are children of God. To be a child implies a relationship. A relationship with God can only happen when our sinfulness is covered and paid for by the blood of Jesus and God’s wrath against us satisfied by Christ’s suffering and death. We must believe in that sacrifice and apply it to our own life. Once our spiritually “dead” condition has been resolved, we are free to “live” as children of God. (Gal. 3:26, 4:4-5)

God’s love is massive and unconditional (no matter what you have done or where you have been), but it must be genuinely received in its reality and entirety in order to be effective for your salvation. Here is the reality: His love frees us from our sins by his blood. The greatest freedom that exists is the freedom from our sins and their guilt and penalty. Sin disrupts our relationship with God. It simply must be dealt with or we remain spiritually lost and outside of a relationship with our Creator.

Have you honestly received God’s love? It is expressed in the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus Christ. When you go to God by the way of Jesus, you can be saved by the love of God. You can be set free to be a child of God – in full relationship with Him!

– By Shelli S. Prindle

Living in Heavenly Places

Posted on by admin

A recent, sweet conversation with my nephew reminded me of our access to all spiritual blessings of the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). My nephew assured me that he remembered vividly a ten minute period of time that occurred eight years ago. He recalled the place we were during a moment of emotional distress and the words I spoke from the Bible concerning the New Heavens and New Earth. That precious boy’s eyes lit up as he listened to me review that conversation of long ago and my counsel that Jesus will keep His promise to make things right so that one day people who love each other will no longer have to be separated. As we remembered together, I could see the wheels of his mind turning furiously. He had held onto the truth of God’s Word all this time. For him, the book of Revelation and II Peter had been sealed as reality.

What struck me the evening of our recollection is the power of spiritual blessings. When we focus on and access the stuff of God’s Word and kingdom, eternal and life-changing phenomena occur. Though much of the time the drudgery of everyday living can mask the workings in the spiritual realm, God moves through us when we choose to think and act in the heavenly arena. For example, I just encouraged a friend of mine who uses the text message medium to send Bible verses to others. In a world of technological overuse and abuse, I wanted her to know that often the Lord confirms His leading through her “heavenly thinking” when it comes to such a common thing as text messaging. This woman accesses the spiritual blessings of God’s Word, chooses to think about her Savior during the course of ordinary days, and then positively affects another person’s walk with the Lord. Eternal differences are made rather than just the proliferation of more gibberish so common to texting.

Paul instructs in Ephesians 1:3 (NASB), “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” How many times do we miss those spiritual blessings simply because we do not recognize our position in the heavenly places? A dinner table in a restaurant, for example, can be a heavenly site when food and laughter are shared and savored to the glory of God. Our Lord made us to enjoy the earth He has created, and we reflect His image in holy fellowship with one another. The location on the map is one thing, but children of God are seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and allow God to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

A year or so ago, one of my young relatives expressed the need for some school clothes that fit well. I went to a department store and a drug store and stocked up on clothes and supplies for him. I felt the glory of God in those stores, because the act of obedience was in the spiritual realm. The clothing became a tool for Heaven. I wrote a letter to go with the supplies and outfits, and I explained that all of our needs are ultimately supplied by Jesus. He is the reason and the source of all we receive. Clothing a loved one became sacred.

How often do we waste our time stuck in the ordinary? God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing! He tells us these blessings are in heavenly places in Christ. Make no mistake about it, a New Age type of spirituality is not what is mentioned here. We have access to the blessings because of – and in – Jesus Christ! We used to be dead to spiritual things, but the sacrifice of Jesus made us alive! (Ephesians 2:4-5) Now we ought to live – and live abundantly! A bird flying through the yard now reminds us of the freedom from sin we have in Jesus. The simple acts of reading and thinking now remind us of the creativity and orderliness of our great God, who has things yet unimaginable in store for us. A drink of iced tea reminds us of His faithfulness to quench our spiritual thirst and bring contentment even now. A look at the tall trees stretching toward the sky, growing more intricate with each expanding branch, hints of our approach toward Heaven and the New Jerusalem.

Please live in heavenly places in Christ. Be always communing with Him and ponder His Word (Psalm 1:1-2). Be perpetually giving Him glory as we stand amazed at all He has given and all he does. Make moments and experiences count for eternity. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings; we have to live in heavenly places in Christ.

Jesus Can’t Be Your Example Until He’s Your Savior

Posted on by admin

Recently I perused some children’s books that had been labeled as “Christian.” While reviewing these works, I was reminded of how subtly the truth can be undermined.

One of the children’s books was a survey of major stories of the Bible. Each two-page summary of a Biblical event was accompanied by colorful drawings and a quick prayer to summarize the heart of the message. Most unfortunately, the author missed the main point of many of the Biblical accounts.

As I read through the pages dealing with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, I was gravely disappointed to realize that the book did not refer to Jesus’ work as our Savior. It recommended that children look to Jesus as an example about how to forgive others and how to reach out to others, but it did not mention the fact that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins. In fact – to the best of my examination – the book never mentioned the word “sin.”

How tragic. What would be even more catastrophic is if adults reading the book did not realize that sin was not mentioned. This inconspicuous removal of anything related to the sinful nature of humans and our need for redemption is eternally harmful.

The message the powers of darkness would like us to believe is that we can simply follow the example of Christ and other “holy” people. The lie is that Jesus is only the role model that all of us should employ when making decisions. To naturalists, He is mistakenly a fully self-actualized human, to new age believers He is wrongly assumed to be a person genuinely in touch with His divinity and having reached the higher plane; but – in truth – He is God come to earth in flesh to save humans from sin.

Weary people – who are bound by sin, and burdened by the wrong thoughts and behaviors that we cannot escape on our own – need a Savior! We do not require a fine example – or even a perfect example – of how to live; we need a God who can enable us to live. Once the Savior delivers us from our sin nature, then – and only then – can we begin to live rightly.

The apostle Paul said it wonderfully in I Timothy 1:15 (NIV), “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” This, my friends, is why Jesus came. He came to endure the wrath of God for our sins that we might be free from the sin curse.

It may not be fashionable in today’s culture to seemingly downgrade the human condition this way, but it is certainly the truth. And every person who feels the weight of sin knows another example of goodness is not what they need.

Jesus simply cannot be my example until He is my Savior! To be bound by sin is to be spiritually dead. Dead people cannot follow examples. Dead people need life. God – through Jesus – gives dead people life. After He does, then these people can do right.

The crux of the matter is spelled out simply in Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV), “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”

My prayer is that weary sinners find new life in Jesus as the Savior. I also pray that God will cause us to see where truth is lacking, or only half-proclaimed. People’s lives depend on it. God, please help us.