“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (NIV)
Previously, we learned about the Spirit’s functions of preparing, revealing, searching, and knowing.
Other functions of the Spirit of God include his sealing us at the moment we believe and trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ for our salvation. This is the guarantee of our inheritance in heaven that is being kept for us imperishable, incorruptible, and unfading.
This assurance of salvation sets us free to be of service to the King in the time we have remaining in this temporary world. This gives us time to invest our time, talent, and treasure in the imperishable values of the world to come instead of just spending our 3 Ts on what is perishing in this world.
After the Spirit seals us, he begins the process of revealing the things of God to us, as we just learned in 1 Corinthians 2:9-11. The sealing and revealing process is done for a purpose.
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:11–14, NIV)
God wants us to live a life of holiness in addition to having an expectation of the imminent return of Jesus Christ, who redeemed us for the purpose of being zealous to do the good works he prepared beforehand for us to do.
Our God is a God of provision, who gives us the power to do what he has called us to do. “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24, NIV)
Then God deals with us by working in us and through our circumstances. “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13, NIV)
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory…” (Ephesians 3:20-21a, NIV)
May we learn how to tap into the power of God to serve his purposes in this world.
Today, ask yourself:
Is my agenda in line with the agenda of God as outlined above, or am I going my own way? What steps can I take to bring my life more in line with his will?
No comments:
Post a Comment