“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”
– Ephesians 1:3 –
How many blessings the Father bestows upon us by taking us our of the clutches of death and leading us to life!
- We are chosen. Some misunderstand this, and consider that if the choice is God’s, we have no say in the matter. What is clear is that salvation begins with God. The initiative is His. We are not the ones who seek God, it is God who seeks us. Salvation is by grace, and the sinner responds to God’s choice voluntarily.
On one hand, divine soverignty seeks to save; on the other is the human response and responsibility. Choice is a sovereign act from our eternal God. God initiated a cascade of spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Choice is the basis of all other spiritual blessings.
Our election was made with the purpose of setting the chosen apart from the rest of the world and equipping them with spritual qualities that distinguish them from the world, identify them as belonh=ging to God, and being sent as intruments of salvation to all people.
2. We are adopted. We are all predestined for salvation; that is, salvation is offered to all of us. God does not predetermine those who will be saved. Adoption has a present and future time. We join the family through conversion and the Lord receives us as adult children, with the rights to His inheritance. Our adoption will be completed when Christ returns and we are glorified.
3. We are accepted. We are not the ones who accept ourselves. It is God who accepts us. The choice, adoption, and acceptance are all based on God’s love. Our response to that love must also be love.
Ricardo Palma wrote a poem that addresses life and death:
Who Are the Death?
“The death are not the ones who, in sweet calmness,
enjoy peace in the cold grave.
The death are the ones whose souls are dead
and yet still live.
The dead are not the ones who receive rays of light
in their mortal remains.
Those who die with honor are the living,
those who live without honor are the dead.
Life is not the life we live.
Life is honor, it is remembrance.
That is why there are dead people who live in the world
and men who live in the world, dead.”
We thank you, Father for Your blessings,
which leads us from death to Your Life! Be blessed…