I have recently been reading through Ephesians and it has really affected me. It has made me think about being thankful for all of God’s gifts and also to be thankful for brothers and sisters in Christ. I often find myself very thankful for His gifts, but am regularly very critical of my fellow brothers and sisters (especially those I deem hypocritical). It is something that I need to continue to work on and I pray that someday it will flow through me more naturally and regularly. Here are some of the passages that I have been reading in order to regain focus:
13 Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. 15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
In this passage, we are told that He has marked us for salvation and when we accept him, this mark becomes a seal “guaranteeing our inheritance,” and redemption. For this, we should worship, praise, and be confident in his glory and love for us… We need to remember his love for us in our love for others through thankfulness and prayer and he will reward us by helping us come closer to him or to “know him better.”
So, today, i really would like to meditate on how thankful i am for all of you. I have been so incredibly blessed by so many people that it would make a long list, so let me just say each one of you represents an important part of the body and without you, the body is not whole. I am even thankful for those that I disagree with or that I think are supporting false doctrine. While i will not support that doctrine, I am thankful for your love for Christ and pray that we will be together someday.
The key to remembering this and keeping it important in our lives is to keep perspective:
Ephesians 2
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
–Before we know him, we are “dead” because of our sin. We followed the world instead of him—this is how I felt much of my life, I knew him, but I was rebelling or turning away from his love—but because of his immense love for us he saves us. We had no hope without him, we were of the body gratifying our cravings, where now that we have turned to him, the sin remains, but we have hope in his kingdom and he continues to lead us towards sanctification. Once we see this, how can we judge others harshly? When we see our old selves in others, it should create an overflowing of compassion for everyone we meet – no matter how of the world they are.
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